The Last Druglord
by Sophia-the-fangirl
Summary: Modern AU in which Camelot is run by a drug ring led by none other than Arthur Pendragon himself. Merlin, a med student at Albion, is sucked into a war between the Knights and their rivals, led by Arthur's half-sister. But Morgana's got some new experiment going on. Will Merlin remember the past in time to save Arthur and Camelot in this new life?


**Chapter 1**

"Name?"

"Excuse me?"

"Did I stutter? Hey, Perce, did I stutter when I asked this bloke for his name?"

"You didn't, mate."

"Really? Thank goodness." The bag that was tied over the man's head was suddenly ripped off by the first voice. "Now I'll ask again, 'cause I'm nice. Name?"

The man shook his askew dark hair, eyes adjusting to the lack of light in the small room. "Uh, yeah, it's Emrys. Merlin Emrys."

The first voice looked at the second (Perce, was it?) and grinned. "Get the boss. We found him."

The other man left the tiny room, leaving Merlin alone with the first guy. "Do you mind telling me what's going on here?"

The man smirked. "The boss will tell you all you need to know. My name's Gwaine, and that bloke that just left is Percival. We're some of his best men," Gwaine leans toward Merlin threateningly. "so don't mess with him, alright?"

He nods nervously as the door to the tiny room opens again, this time with two men all but blocking the outside's light.

The unfamiliar one nods at Gwaine and he leaves with Percival, shutting and locking the door behind them. The man then proceeds to turn on a larger light in the room, illuminating all four walls.

Merlin scoots back in the chair he's tied to when he sees who he's dealing with.

"Hello," the man smiles at him. "I see you recognize me."

He could only nod in terror. The man before him was none other than Arthur Pendragon, one of the most notorious men in all of Camelot. His order of criminals (known as the Knights of Camelot) basically ran the city, pressuring mayor Uther to do their bidding. The only people that dared mess with them were from the next town over, a group known as the Druids. They were led by an equally menacing leader.

"Good," Arthur sits in a chair across from Merlin, taking his hat off to reveal his blonde hair. "I know about you as well. You're a medical student at University of Albion, you're around my age, and all your family died in a car accident a few years ago. Am I wrong?"

He gulped. "No, you're right on all of that."

Arthur smiled and twirled his hat around his finger. "Excellent. I hate being wrong. Now, as you probably already know, a recent fight with the Druids left some of my men dead. Yes? Good, you follow the news. Anyway, one of those men was my expert doctor. He could care for any of my injured people, gave us direct access to the hospital and their medical supplies, etcetera. Since he's gone, we're losing that connection. Do you follow where I'm going?"

Merlin nodded again at the other man. "You want me to become the new connection for your people."

"Exactly. It's like any other connection with the Knights: living space, income, direct information, all the perks you can imagine. I do hope you'll take this offer, because I've told you too much already."

"So you'll kill me if I say no?" Merlin laughed.

Suddenly Arthur had a handgun pointed at the other man's chest. "Actually, I will."

If Merlin had a mirror he was sure his face would have a look of complete shock. "Oh no, I mean I- I'll accept your offer, Mr. Pendragon. How could I refuse?"

Arthur's grip on the gun relaxes. "Good, good. I'd hate to kill you."

Quick as a flash Arthur cuts Merlin free from the chair. "I'll have one of my men meet you behind Albion Hospital at 3 PM sharp after your class tomorrow. Don't be late."

And then Arthur left Merlin behind in the small room in the middle of God-knows-where, taking his men with him.

Merlin stood there for a minute, realizing what he'd just done. When he leaves the room, he finds himself outside the back entrance of Camelot's pharmacy, still wondering how Arthur knew his class schedule.

**Chapter 2**

The next day Merlin had to walk extra fast after his classes to meet Arthur's man. His teacher, Alice, had held them overtime for her lecture. She was a great professor, but she could get long-winded at times.

Waiting for him was a tall man with curly blonde hair. "Emrys?" he asks quietly. When Merlin nods he extends his hand. "Leon. The boss sent me to pick you up. Come along."

He leads Merlin to a sleek black car, and they begin to drive.

"Leon, do you mind if I ask you why Arthur picked me for this?"

"Well, Merlin, i'm not really sure why. The boss is very secretive about his reasons. He's had no choice after- well, I probably shouldn't say." Leon keeps his eyes fixed on the road, but they don't seem to see the truck about to hit them.

Merlin didn't want to, but he stopped the truck right before it hit the little black car, the telltale sign of magic flashing in his eyes.

Leon slammed on the brakes, staring at the male in the passenger seat. "What the hell was that?!"

"I-I just- the truck didn't see us, and I wanted to-"

"Not that, Emrys." Leon's voice dropped to a low tone. "Do you have _magic_?!"

Merlin sighed. He had been warned his whole life to keep his power a secret, and a near-perfect stranger had just caught him. "Yes, but please don't tell-"

Leon started flying down the road, causing Merlin to almost choke on his words. "I'm sorry, Emrys, but I have to tell Arthur."

The car took them to what looked like an abandoned warehouse, but under it was a high-tech control center for the Knights of Camelot. As Leon led Merlin through the maze of hallways, he pointed out some important people.

"There's Gwaine and Percival, you met them yesterday. And over there's Elyan and Lance with Arthur's girlfriend, Guenivere."

The trio were playing cards at a huge round table, one that seemed to be used for important meetings. Guenivere briefly looks up and smiles brightly at the two males walking. Merlin decided that he liked her already.

Finally Leon and Merlin are in a large, nicely-furnished office. Arthur Pendragon sits behind a maple desk, staring at the two expectantly.

"Ah, good, you two didn't die."

"Actually, sir, a truck almost hit our car. But Emrys saved us. He-" Leon's voice falters, as though he were remembering a painful memory. "He has magic, sir. And he used it to save my life."

Arthur's face shows a mix of shock and guilt.

"Leon, call a meeting in the Great Room. Merlin, follow me."

Leon leaves to call the other major Knights as Merlin follows Arthur into an adjoining room, this one smaller.

"Merlin, I haven't known you personally for long, but I want you to know that I already knew you had magic."

"Y-you did? But how? I've kept that-"

"Your godfather, the pharmacist? He's an informant of ours. That's how I knew all about you. It was a tricky decision, offering this to you, because I've had some… _unpleasant_… experiences with magic." Arthur stops his small monologue, pondering what to say next. "I suppose we should get to the meeting then."

The duo quietly walk to the meeting room with the gigantic round table, Arthur leading the way with a sense of confidence.

Merlin steps into the room to find everyone he was introduced to sitting around the table, two seats vacant. Arthur sits at the chair obviously meant for the leader next to Guenivere while Merlin sits in between Elyan and Percival.

"Alright everyone," Arthur says tensely, "we've got work to do. As of now, our trades in drugs are at an all-time high, and the business in organizing crime is greater than ever. Unfortunately, this means the same status for our rivaling group. Morgana, my unfortunate half-sister, decided to move her pawns on the chessboard last month. You all remember the Knight that disappeared? That was no accident. She kidnapped him."

All the others showed physical signs of grief. Merlin wondered who this mysterious Knight was.

"Anyhow, we've sent some undercover rookies in to infiltrate Morgana's system and find out what she's up to. They reported back to Lance on their findings." Arthur continues, gesturing to Lance.

The Knight stands with a stack of papers. "Yes. These rookies were involved with the fight a few weeks ago. They're all dead, Morgana saw to that. They did, however, manage to get this information back to me." He passes the papers around the table. "It seems as though Morgana's people are working on some new type of stimulant, made for those possessing magic. We're not sure what it does, but I'm sure nothing good."

Percival hands Merlin a page with names on it. "You know what any of this means, Emrys?"

He studies the page carefully. "My godfather- he taught me about magic- warned me about all these medicines. He said that they do weird things to those with magic. I- people like me, we're not supposed to use them. Oh my gosh," sudden realization hits him. "I think she might be trying to _control_ their magical abilities."

Several people at the table gasp. Guenivere, who had been silent up until then, speaks out with a clear tone. "Would she have the means to do so?"

"With this stuff? Oh yeah."

Everyone leaves the round table to go to their designated living area, with Lance showing Merlin the way. Gwaine stays in the big room, claiming to have lost a pencil under the great table. When he's sure everyone is gone, he take out his phone and calls the contact _Her_.

"Is your meeting over?" she asks upon picking up.

"Yes. Are you free tonight?"

"I planned on it. I'm at the hotel between this town and the next one over."

"I- I'm not sure we should continue this." he sounded generally tired of the betrayal.

"Nobody needs to know about it. There's no business involved, like we agreed. Pure fun. Now hurry up." the line clicks dead.

Gwaine sighs, straightens his suit, and leaves the big room, slightly upset with himself about the constant treason.

_Arthur'll hang you if he finds out, _his conscience told him.

_I'm cool with that,_ some other voice in his head replied.

_Shut up you two. Perhaps I shouldn't think while dealing with this lady,_ he told the both of his voices.

In the hotel between Camelot and the next town over waited someone who did not yet know the role she'd play aiding Morgana in the imminent war.

Merlin trotted behind Lance as they made their way to the living wing of the headquarters.

"So who was the Knight Morgana kidnapped?" He tried to be sympathetic about the topic, given how upset everyone else had acted about it.

Lance sighed. "It is a custom in the Knights of Camelot to not speak the name of one who has either committed treason, died, or has been kidnapped. Forgive me for not naming him, but he was a good friend of mine, and a very loyal Knight. Arthur trusted him with many secrets I know as well, making him more valuable to Morgana than other Knights." He paused, unsure how to continue. "He also had magic, but he didn't seem as powerful as you seem to be. Anyway, last month Morgana set up a decoy of sorts, causing us to send a group out to help some girls she had supposedly kidnapped. He was among them, and she kidnapped him along with a few others. We haven't seen him since."

He finishes the story, greatly upset by recounting what happened. Merlin tries his best to show sympathy. "I'm sorry that happened, Lance. It's obvious he was a good guy."

The Knight smiles a bit. "Was might be the keyword there, Emrys. There's a part of the report I wasn't comfortable sharing."

Just then they reach Merlin's new apartment. "Here you are. Everything should be in order. Your room key." Lance hands him a small key on a chain.

Before Merlin could ask him more about the disappeared Knight, Lance pops down the hall into his own apartment.

**Chapter 3**

Morgana swipes her card to gain access into one of the most highly-guarded areas of her operation sites. The people being kept in there were awfully noisy, so she had made a habit out of not going there. This news, however, had to be delivered first-hand.

The guard for the girl's holding cell let her in without a second glance. The girl inside the room, however, kept double-taking to see if Morgana was actually real.

"Oh," she began, "You're seeing a lot of weird thing right now, right? Yeah, the report told me that was happening to you. I think it's normal, because it's happening to the other too."

The girl didn't respond, but she made it clear that she understood Morgana wasn't an illusion.

"Right. So, I've decided to pay you a personal visit to tell you about your sister," she continues her one-sided conversation, enjoying the small expression of pain that passes over the girl's face. "Good. You remember who your twin is. Well she escaped. Oh but don't worry," Morgana chuckles, "this was part of the plan."

She starts to leave the room when the girl finally finds her voice, still struggling with the visions that danced in front of her. "You knew this would happen to us, didn't you?"

The leader of the Druids turns back to her prisoner. "No. All I knew was that you would become one of the greatest soldiers I ever created."

Morgana leaves the twitching girl in her small holding cell, strutting past the other screaming participants with a smirk.

Camelot's pharmacy is all but empty when Merlin enters the small shop the next morning. He clutches the list of medicines Lance told him to get, wondering if the local drug store even carried some of this stuff.

Merlin's godfather waits behind the counter, already aware as to why he was there. "Ah, so you've made it in the group safely," Gaius says happily. "that's a good thing. Come on back, I have exactly what you need."

The two step into the pharmacy's inventory room, which is bigger than it looks. One of the shelves has been marked as "For the Knights", leading Merlin to suspect the his godfather was the main supplier for the Knight's medicinal trade.

"Gaius, do you know much about the Knights?" Merlin asks carefully.

"Besides what I need to know for trading purposes, not much. Wasn't there some kind of fight a few weeks ago?" He responds while looking over different prescriptions.

The younger man nods. "Lance told me a bit about it. He's the only one of the Knights that survived Morgana's new type of drug."

"A new type of drug? What do you mean?"

Merlin cautiously takes out the paper from the night before, handing it to his godfather. "It looks like she's trying to control those with magic with these prescriptions. I tried talking to some other Knights about what they know about Morgana's people, and most of them have magic. What if-"

Gaius holds out a hand to stop the speech. "Wait. Where did she get all of this? A lot of these prescriptions are immensely hard to obtain."

He shrugs. "I'm sure Lance knows something about it, but he's holding information back from everyone for some reason. He told me that he saw something at that fight a few weeks ago that he'd rather not share. In my book, that's pretty shifty."

Merlin's godfather hands him a bag with the correct medications. "You need to get back to the others. If I were you, I'd try to get more information from Lance, or anyone you can. Arthur knows you're the only one in his group with magic, so this makes you a more valuable playing card in this game."

"I'm more than happy to show you around officially. Not many people ask me to do things here, and it gets rather boring."

"Thanks for helping me out, Guenivere."

She laughs genuinely. "Please, call me Gwen. Now, over here's where we keep hostages, and sometimes we take them to that room there for torture."

As they walked around the vast underground, Merlin tried to think up a way to find out information from his new ally. When they were surveying the armory, he thought up a perfect way. "So do you know the other Knights very well?"

"Oh yes, they're like brothers to me. Well, Elyan is my brother, but the others act just the same. Of course, Arthur isn't like my brother, 'cause he's my boyfriend, but you get the idea."

He smiles. "Makes sense to me. I guess that means you're pretty tight with all of them."

Gwen's smile breaks a bit. "Well, I was for a long time. After last month, Lance has been kind of distant, he was really focused on his job infiltrating Morgana's web."

"That's terrible. So he hasn't told you anything lately?"

"No, he has. After the fight a few weeks ago we talked for a long time about what he saw. It was really nerve-racking for Lance, and after I heard his recollection I can see why. Oh, look, I'm rambling now." She laughs.

He tries to save the conversation. "Hey, if telling someone helps, you can always confide in me. I won't tell anyone."

"Really? I thought you would be the kind that would tell Arthur everything you heard."

"Not if you don't want me to. So what did Lance see?" Merlin steers the topic back to the fight.

Gwen smooths her shirt. "It was terrifying for him. Apparently everyone there was under some kind of drug-induced trance. Lance said he recognized a few of them from previous encounters, but none of them would even acknowledge him." She stops her description.

"How did Lance know they were in a trance?"

"Their eyes- their eyes were different somehow. Lance wouldn't describe in detail, but their eyes were different than usual. I'm sorry, I don't think I'm comfortable talking about this anymore."

Merlin puts an arm around Gwen in an attempt to comfort her. They sit by the armory for a while, neither of them saying much.

A few miles away from the Knight's headquarters, on the edge of Camelot, Percival and Gwaine run into a surprise unknowingly sent by Morgana.

"Hey Perce, what's going on over there?"

The Knight follows his friend around the abandoned boxcars, searching for the unidentified movement. "I'm not seeing anything, man. It's all in your head."

"No, really, I think I saw someone."

The two search around the empty trainyard for a few minutes before Percival finds the person causing the suspicion. "Oh my god."

"What's over there?"  
"Call Arthur, _now. _I think we found one of Morgana's experiments."

**Chapter 4**

"Sorry, Emrys, but it looks like this'll be a long night." Leon briefs Merlin as they hurry to the Knight's infirmary. "Gwaine and Percival found a girl on the outskirts of Camelot. It's likely she was one of Morgana's prisoners, but she shows no signs of being under the supposed super-drug. She is pretty shaken up though, so be cautious around her, okay?"

He nods as they reach one of the infirmary's private rooms. Merlin enters alone to find a trembling girl sitting on the examination table. She kept looking around the room as if everything was dipped in poison, but her attention snapped to Merlin as he stepped further into the room.

"Hello," he smiled. "How are you feeling?"

No response, just staring.

Merlin tried to reassure the girl. "Nobody's here to hurt you. Whatever happened will never happen again. Now, I'm just going to check your general health is in order."

He tries to take her temperature, but she flinches every time he comes near her. After a few minutes of flinching and attempted checking, Merlin gives up. "Well, you seem to be okay generally. Um, I'll leave you to talk to Arthur now."

He turns to leave but she grabs his shirt, a terrified look in her eyes. It was obvious she wanted Merlin there for whatever reason. The girl finds her voice in time for a quiet squeak of a phrase. "Please," she begs. "Stay with me."

Merlin nods. "Alright, but you still have to talk to Arthur."

Three unlikely acquaintances sit at the large round table in the middle of the night. Arthur had opted to sit at one of the smaller chairs so he wouldn't be too intimidating, Merlin had chosen the seat in between the two others, and the unnamed girl was shaking in her chair.

"Please state your name." Arthur instructed in a calm manner.

She looks at the table while quietly responding. "Freya."

The king of organized crime nods. "Okay. Any last name?"

Freya shakes her head. "It was wiped. A lot of it was."

Arthur looked confused. "Wiped? What do you mean by that?"

She looks up at the two. "When Morgana kidnapped my sister and I, she wiped most of our memories. That's what she does with all her experiments. We were lucky enough to remember our first names and the fact that we were related, but not much else."

He nods in understanding. "Are you comfortable telling me what else she did to you and your sister?"

"I haven't seen her. I think she's been hopped. The medicine didn't work on me, but I know she's been hopped. I can tell something's not right with her."

Now Merlin looked confused. "Hopped? What does that mean?"

Freya stared straight at him. "It's the state when they're completely under the drug. I've seen it happen to them, they don't register anything but their orders."

Arthur takes copious notes. "Who's 'they'?"

"All of them."

The two males tried to ask Freya more questions, but she wouldn't say anything else. She seemed too upset, and finally Merlin convinced Arthur that it was in her health's best interest if she slept.

"Alright. Escort her to her room, Emrys." Arthur tosses him a key. "I've got to talk to Lance."

Merlin walks Freya to her room in the living quarters. It's identical to everyone else's, which really showed him how Arthur wanted everybody to be treated fairly in this group.

He hands her the small key. "Well, everything in there is pretty self-explanatory. I suggest you get some rest, you seem pretty tired."

She nods quickly. "Thank you."

He smiles. "I'm happy to. Let me know if you ever need anything."

Without warning, Freya stands on tiptoe and kisses him on the cheek. "Okay." She then proceeds to step in her room and shut the door.

Merlin walks back to his own room, ready for some well-needed sleep. This whole night was one weird event after another.

Morgause stands guard to one of her favorite rooms in the headquarters: the training room. From behind the bulletproof door there were sounds of gunshots and highly-controlled fights. Morgana walks up to her second-in-command with an expectant look on her face.

"And?"

"Your experiments are going very well, m'lady. If you can get more of that medicine from the supplier, you will not fail when you go up against Arthur."

She smiles maliciously. "Excellent. My half-brother doesn't seem to have a clue as to what's about to hit him."

The two women laugh as though the best joke had just been told. Morgana then looks through a small window into the room, trying to see one of her subjects. She was not unsatisfied when she saw the same girl that a few days ago had been twitching in a metal chair shoot the target dummy perfectly.

**Chapter 5**

"So have you remembered anything else?"

"I've been trying to remember my sister's name all night, but even that's been a blank."

Merlin and Freya had gone out for a morning walk through the city park. It was mostly empty, given the crisp October weather that everyone in Camelot seemed to hate.

"It's alright," he reassured her. "It'll come back to you in pieces, I assume."

"I did remember more about the others though. I mean, the other people that were in the same experiment as my sister and I." Freya looks at the ground, either upset by what she remembered or trying to re-remember it.

"Well that's something, then! Do you want to talk about it?"

"I think it would be a good idea. There weren't many people in Morgana's experiment, about five others besides my sister and I. I think two were females, and the other three males. For the life of me I can't remember their names either. I do remember Morgana's right-hand-man - er, woman, I guess, - being exceptionally excited about kidnapping one of the males from- I don't remember who."

She looked unhappy about forgetting, so Merlin grabbed her hand reassuringly. "It's okay. You remembered a lot in a short span of time and that's great. We can worry about details later."

Freya smiles at him. "We?"

"Uhm, er, I mean-"

"No, it's good. I like 'we'."

Their conversation dwindled to silence and they walked together without speaking for some time.

And in that they said everything.

"Who's left? I need a status report."

Morgause flips through a clipboard, checking off random boxes. "One escaped, three didn't survive the procedure, and two are fit for service. This isn't what we were expecting, is it?"  
The queen of second-rate crime chuckles. "On the contrary, we have exceeded expectations. I would have been overjoyed with just one soldier, but two? That's fantastic!"

Morgana dismisses her second-in-command with a simple order for the two agents.

Morgause arrives at the holding cells for the new agents. The male was staring at a place on the wall as though it were on fire, while the female seemed to be arguing with herself over something.

"Alright, hoppers," she smiles at the two, who have given their full attention to her. "Time to deliver a message."

Merlin stands behind the pharmacy counter, trying not to fall asleep. His godfather had to run an errand for Arthur (he wasn't allowed to say what for), so here he was, stuck in a boring pharmacy on a slow day. It wasn't all bad, though. Freya had volunteered to keep him company while nothing happened to the shop. They were in the middle of discussing one of their favorite shows, Doctor Who (thank goodness she had remembered that!), when sounds of gunshots and shouting erupted from the streets.

"What was that?!"  
"Sounded like it came from right outside."

They both ran to the window to see two figures shooting at various patrons, quickly advancing towards the pharmacy.

Merlin turns to Freya. "You need to go to the inventory room. There's a good chance Morgana sent these people and I can't let them see you."

"But I-"

"Please, just hide!"

Freya goes into the inventory room and Merlin locks her in, ignoring her protestations. He does his best to look casual as the two people burst into the pharmacy.

The male stays at the door, gun in a ready position, while the female charges right up to the counter. It took most of Merlin's willpower not to step back a bit when he saw her face. _Could it be…?_

"Where's the supplier for Arthur Pendragon?" she demands more than asks.

"I- I have no idea what you mean. I'm just watching the shop while the owner's out." He tries to keep his cool.

"Oh, really? I don't suppose he's back there?" The vicious girl points to the locked inventory room, where a nicer doppelganger sits quietly.

Merlin shakes his head, pretending he can't see the expertly-wielded weapons. "He locked that up before he left. I'm not supposed to hand out any prescriptions. If you needed some medicine, we have some over-the-counters I could-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the female grabs the front of his shirt and begins in a low tone. "Look, pal, I know you're in cahoots with Arthur Pendragon. I'll let this little mishap slip from my memory, but if it's the last thing you do, be sure to deliver this message to your boss."

When he was so close to her face, Merlin could see the girl's eyes more clearly. Instead of being the same color as what he assumed was her sister's, this girl's eye color was a clear gold. Merlin recognized that eye color, though. Whenever he did magic, or whenever anyone did magic, their eyes would involuntarily flash that color. Did this mean the girl was properly "hopped", like Freya suggested she would be?

He takes the small scroll of paper from the girl's hand, and she lets go of him. It was then that the male at the door decided to speak up.

"I don't mean to speed things up here, but some Knights just showed up." The male turns towards the two at the counter to reveal the same eye color as the girl. "We better split."

She nods. "Good thing, too. I think I'm coming off my hop."  
"So am I." He agrees.

Merlin stares at the two as they leave the pharmacy, but springs to action when he hears more gunshots.

Freya had been banging on the door for a few moments by the time Merlin unlocked it. She practically jumps out of the room, looking for the two people that had left. "Where are they? I recognized their voices!"

"I thought you would say that. I think that was your sister, Freya. And I fear she's been hopped, just like the guy she was with."

At that moment, Freya sinks to the ground in complete hopelessness. Merlin rushes over to comfort her, forgetting the sounds of anguish outside.

"Men, I'm afraid I have some terrible news," Arthur stands at his place at the Round Table, one of the places missing a Knight. "Sir Elyan has died in a streetfight. The agents were unknown, but it was confirmed to be Morgana's people."

Everyone at the Round Table is quiet with sadness. Their usual color-coordinated attire of red and gold had been swapped for grey that evening. A dark grey linen covered what used to be Sir Elyan's chair.

"Do we know anything more?" Gwen barely managed through sobs.

Merlin stood from his chair. "I think I might know who the agents were. Or, I know one of them. The female agent is Freya's twin sister, name unknown. She was hopped; so was the male agent."

Arthur ponders the new information. "Does Freya remember her sister's name? Or who the male could be, perhaps?"

He shakes his head in a defeated manner. "I have tried just about everything to get her to remember, but she just can't. She couldn't be here tonight; the confirmation of her sister's state has put her in a somber mood."

"We're all in a somber mood." Gwaine spat, clearly upsetted by all the incoming information.

Merlin sat down as Lance stood up. "I'm afraid I can help you with the identification of the male, Arthur." he runs a hand through his hair, not ready to say whatever it was he was going to say.

"Don't tell us you've got a twin as well!" Percival lightens the mood slightly.

"Um, no, actually, it goes back to the fight from a few weeks ago. There were two agents there that killed all our rookies that Morgana had sent. I believe they are the same people. Whatever she's hopping them on, it's working really well."

"Lance, I thought you told me all the information you had on that fight." Arthur accuses. He begins to stand, but Gwen gently places her hand on his arm, causing him to sit again. "Okay, I'll let it go. For Elyan's sake. Just, please, tell us who this male is."

The Knight nods uncomfortably. "I wanted to keep this from all of you for as long as possible, and I feel this night is a bad one to tell you all on. Oh, screw it. It's him, Arthur. He's not dead. He's hopped."

**Chapter 6**

_Knock knock knock. _

No response from the king of crime. Merlin opened the door to his office anyway, positive he was there.

Arthur sat at his desk in deep contemplation. Gwen sat at his side, waiting for him to say something. They both forgot their trains of thought as their attention snapped to Merlin.

"If this is a bad time, sir, I-"

"No, Merlin, this is actually a good time. Gwen, if you would..." Arthur gestures to the half-open door.

Gwen leaves silently, leaving the two men in the large office.

"So, I think I've worked out the technicalities of this drug your half-sister is using," Merlin starts, laying out sheets of paper. "You see, all these medicines are poison to us sorcerers in large doses. Some of these will kill non-sorcerers as well. But what her scientists have managed to do was find the perfect balance of the medicines so it wouldn't kill the recipients, but instead put them in a tunnel-vision-esque trance. They would then carry out any request made by their designated leader."

The king still says nothing, but stares intently at the papers.

Merlin decided to continue. "That would explain why the Knight you lost hadn't fled when Morgana turned him loose. The same goes for the girl. They strictly followed her orders with no interruption, not even if they ran into someone they formerly knew."

Arthur finally speaks after what feels like a lifetime. "Sir Elyan was killed by the Unnamed Knight. That's what puzzles me the most. Why didn't he recognize his own friend, they were all like brothers for Christ's sake!"

"Actually, I'm developing a theory on how to break this hop they're going into. I believe if we can evoke an intense emotion in the hoppers, we can break the drug's effects."

He stands eye to eye with the sorcerer. "And Sir Elyan's death wasn't enough?"

Merlin tried not to stutter as he stared at the king's face, not wanting to break eye contact. "He wasn't there to witness even the signs that Sir Elyan was dying. I think that's why."

Arthur patted Merlin on the shoulder. "I believe your theory, Emrys. But it's time to stop thinking you're right, and start proving it."

Just then a shout was made audible from Sir Leon down the hall. "Emrys?! We need your medical aid this instant!"

Merlin runs to the Far East side of the headquarters, where Sir Percival and Sir Gwaine are injured. It looks as though some giant animal had attacked them. No vital organs were damaged, but Merlin sent them both straight to the emergency center of the infirmary to ensure that nothing would get infected.

"What do you think happened here, Merlin?" Arthur looked puzzled by the scene.

"Well, I'm no animal track expert, but it looks like some big cat attacked them. I'm not sure if it was provoked or if it was just vicious. No real damage done, but the animal just disappeared."

Everyone still at the scene was sent away by Arthur to look for what he guessed was a panther, but he stopped Merlin on his way out.

"I want you to check on Freya. You're the only one around here that can get to her, I feel. Are you two...?"

"Um, well, I, um, I'm not sure really." Merlin stuttered.

Arthur just nodded and sent him away.

_Knock knock knock. _"Freya? Are you okay? Nobody's seen you all day, and-" Merlin knocked on her door until it gently creaked open. That was weird. Most people locked their doors around here.

When Merlin reflected on it, he probably would have forgotten to lock his door as well.

He found her huddled on the floor next to her bed, crying. "Oh my god, what's wrong?" Merlin immediately knelt beside her. "Everyone thought something happened to you after the accident and you didn't show up and-" he shut himself up when he realized he was rambling.

Freya found her voice a moment after. "It was me. I thought it wouldn't happen again, but it did. Oh god, did I kill anyone? Oh god, not again!" And with that she went back to her quiet crying.

"What? You let the panther in to attack two Knights? I certainly don't believe that!"

"I didn't let the panther in, Merlin. I let it out. It some weird magic defect that I've had my whole life. That's why Morgana's drug didn't work on me. I'm too much of a freak!"

Merlin pulled Freya close to him. "You're not a freak. That's exactly what saved you from whatever it is those poor hoppers are going through. It's not your fault, okay?"

She nods slightly, and they sit in silence for a while. In this time, Merlin became pretty sure that they were... Whatever Arthur was implying, that's exactly what they were.

In the hopper's joint holding quarters, the girl sits alone in the media room, with no electronics on, holding her head in her hands.

The boy finds her, and immediately sits next to her. "My god, what's wrong?"

"It's my sister. I can feel it. Some accident's just happened to her. I know it. She's with another sorcerer now. Oh my god, I'm going insane."

The boy is quick to comfort her. "Of course you're not insane. You and your sister have this empathy link that's giving you insight, that's all."

They sit there with each other, not hopped, but feeling some other kind of buzz. "I still can't remember much."

"Neither can I. Why are we focusing on the past, K? Let's just focus on the now, and create new memories to replace the old ones." He suggests.

"K" nods in agreement. "Okay. Maybe if we do that, we'll remember more! But that's not important."

The two hoppers enjoy their time in their high-class holding quarters, still nameless to the current Knights of Camelot, one out of respect, one out of ignorance.

**Chapter 7**

"Arthur, dear, are you coming to bed?"

"In a moment, Gwen. I need to figure out how this panther did its disappearing act!"

Gwen sighed heavily and joined her boyfriend at the desk in their room. Arthur had moved all the evidence from the attack into their room to be safer, but there wasn't much evidence to look at. "You're beating a dead horse, Arthur. Sirs Gwaine and Percival are almost back to their normal states, and the panther hasn't showed up since. It was just a freak accident, I'm sure of it."

He stood up abruptly and began pacing around the room with purpose. "But a giant wild cat breaking in to our facilities without any sign of force or entrance isn't a freak accident. I think Morgana somehow magicked this one."

"If your wretched half-sister had done this, we would have heard from her by now. Besides," Gwen manages to stop his constant pacing. "isn't she too busy with the hoppers?"

It was clear that Arthur didn't enjoy any part of this conversation. "Maybe we should get some rest, Gwen. I don't want you to get upset talking about-"

Whether Arthur stopped himself from speaking the hopped Knight's name or speaking of Gwen's departed brother, she'd never know. He was in no state to think about it either.

"You're right, dear. Let's just get some sleep."

Merlin sat against the edge of a bed, half-asleep. He had gotten into a routine for every night since the accident: after everyone had gone to bed, he'd go to Freya's room to make sure that whatever happened to her wouldn't happen through the night. They tried to sleep in shifts, but it usually ended up with the both of them passed out by 2 AM.

This particular night, however, was an exception. The two of them had somehow managed to both stay awake until about 1 AM, talking about things that randomly crossed their minds. It seemed to be helping Freya remember some of her past.

"Okay, do have you remembered anything new since 12?"

"No, but I think I've remembered a sizable chunk of things. I know that there's an empathetic link between me and my sister, but I'm not sure how or why. It somehow happened after we were kidnapped. And I think I've started to recall her name!"

He sits up a little straighter. "Really? That's great! What is it?"

She slumps back against the bed. "I- I don't remember more than a letter. But it definitely starts with a K."

Merlin pulls out his phone, which was quickly losing power. "Shall I put in a search for names that start with K? We can go through them all and see if that trips a wire."

This got them laughing. Maybe it was the fatigue, or the dread of being alone, but Merlin had enjoyed these past few nights with Freya. He was _this_ close to being able to say that they were "together", whatever that meant anymore. Sure, they had kissed a few times, but he wasn't sure how she felt about the situation, so there was that.

The duo's semi-joyous banter was interrupted by an emergency alert blares over the headquarters' PA system, waking up everyone for sure.

Sir Lance's voice cracks over the siren. "Meeting at the Round Table for all available units, now! We've got hoppers in the hospital!"

The Knights of Camelot, Gwen, Merlin, and Freya all gathered around the big table in the dead of night. It was kind of comical to see everyone in their standard-issued Camelot pajamas, but the time was not right for jokes.

"A few of our nightly patrols saw Morgana's hoppers near the hospital. They seemed to be headed for the empty wing, which makes no sense." Lance recited.

Arthur turned to Merlin. "What could they want in the empty wing, Emrys?"

Merlin thought for a millisecond before it dawned on him. "Oh no. The empty wing of the hospital is where all the medicine is stored. Morgana must want it for her hopping drug, it's all right there!"

Some gasped while others put their head in their hands. "Great. Now she'll have both of them hopped until they get themselves killed." Gwaine laments.

"Perhaps not," Merlin spoke up again. "The security system for that wing is extremely tight. If we hurry, maybe we can still catch them!"

There is a collective nod and Arthur consents. "Alright. All of us are going. I have a feeling we'll need as much manpower as possible."

The Knights were all agreeing readily, to which Merlin wasn't sure why. Did they think they could somehow save their kidnapped friend while he was hopped? That poor guy had no chance.

He looks over at Freya, who is holding her head in one hand. Uh oh. He knew that expression. "What's happening? What are they up to?" Merlin asks Freya, which confuses everyone else.

Arthur looks back and forth between them. "Are we missing something here?"

"Empathic link with her sister, might contain valuable information, I'll explain more later." He summarized.

"She's in the hospital, and I think she's running a test on the…. system? Is that what he called it?"

"So he's there then?" Lance asks hopefully.

"Yes, your friend is there. Weird, I'm starting to see his name before I can even remember my own sister's."

"Okay, please do not repeat that name out loud, as it is a respect to all Knights of Camelot taken prisoner," Arthur firmly instructs. "So, everyone, we'd better change into suitable clothing for bloodshed."

_Before the previous installment_

"Hey, hoppers? Hoppers! I've unlocked your bedroom doors, you need to come out now!" Morgause forcefully calls to the two she had been assigned permanently to monitor.

They both pop out of their rooms, rather confused as to why they were awake at half past midnight when they should be getting the optimal hours of sleep for operation.

"Oh yeah, you're not hopped yet," the second-in-command sighs. "Be back here in five minutes, ready for a mission."

They were ready in three.

"Good. Now," Morgause hands them a small silver briefcase. "Here are your syringes for your hop, to be taken as you get to the hospital. Your mission is to first commit this list to memory while on the hop," They are handed a page with medicinal names. "then, you need to retrieve them all from the empty wing in the hospital. Don't worry about the lock, this device will take care of it." And lastly they were handed a device no bigger than the palm of Morgause's hand. "There is a driver waiting to take you to the site. Be prepared for the Knights to interfere, so that means guns, capeesh?"

The two simply respond with a synchronized nod and "Yes ma'am" before disappearing down the hall.

Morgause rolls her eyes at the departing agents. "Hoppers. So eager to please." She then takes out her phone to continue the conversation she was having.

_M: So you're sure you can't meet tonight?_

_G: No way can I make it tonight._

_M: Aw come on_

_G: My room is right down the hall from Arthur's. If he finds out about us, well, you know._

_M: No, I don't. Please enlighten me_

_G: He'd kill you for sure. I'd probably be hanged, or I could have my hair chopped off!_

_M: God forbid THAT would happen_

_G: Look, I just can't tonight, okay? We'll find another time._

_M: Fine. Enjoy your night._

_G: Same to you._

**Chapter 8**

The slew of Knights decided to enter the direct way into the hospital, while Arthur had instructed Merlin and Freya to go through the back. Gwen had stayed home, being too emotionally worn out for this.

The two silently make their way to the empty wing, stopping every ten minutes or so for a status report via empathy.

The last time they had to stop was right outside the empty wing. "Okay, they're in." Freya reported. "In the process of looting some medicine storage. No- wait! Arthur and his men are in there! Now's our chance to go in there and get the medicine away from them!"

Merlin took point for gentlemanly reasons, and they both crept into the room to witness an odd scene.

It looked like something from a movie. The only Knights still standing were Arthur and Percival, with Lance clutching his stomach in pain. Gwaine was trying to help him somehow as Merlin and Freya ran over to them.

"What happened?" He demanded.

"The- the girl," Lance spat out, Gwaine having re entered the fight. "I didn't know she had a dagger on her. She stabbed me pretty badly."

The two hoppers looked lethal. Merlin almost immediately recognized their golden irises, a side effect of the hop. It looked as though Morgana had trained them for this kind of fighting with Arthur in mind, because everyone was fairly evenly matched. If Merlin didn't know better, he'd say it were a scene from an action movie.

Lance was losing blood fast. Merlin did his best to treat him on-spot while Freya studied her doppelganger with a sense of fear. Arthur is thrown against the wall next to them by one of the hoppers, and looks desperately at his fallen Knight.

Merlin drops his hands in hopelessness, then checks his watch. "2:03, I'm calling it."

Suddenly, everyone stops their fighting and faces the dead Lance on the ground. A flicker of recognition crosses the male hopper's face, but other than that neither of the two agents showed any emotion towards the scene.

Then all at once the fighting begins again, this time with guns.

Arthur motions towards the back door. "Everybody get out! This mission is no longer secure!"

The group reluctantly leaves Lance lying on the floor as they make their exit, but not before a shot was fired aimlessly into the group. Which hopper shot it, nobody knows. But it did hit Freya with accuracy, rendering her moments from death.

She fell haphazardly on the floor and Merlin caught her in time. Arthur and the other Knights made their way to the stairwell, giving the two some privacy.

"I'm going to die in a few minutes, aren't I?" Freya said almost comically.

"If I said no I'd be charged with malpractice." He tried to lighten the mood.

"I wouldn't want that. I- Oh my gosh. I remember."

Merlin looks confused momentarily. "Remember? Remember what?"  
"Everything. I think death is waking me up."

"No, no. You don't have to die. Not like this."

"But I do. I'm sorry," Her attention shifts to the door to the wing. "And I'm also sorry, Kara."

Merlin follows her gaze to the door. The female hopper was staring at the scene in complete shock, her eyes having broken the hop. She runs from the scene the way she came, leaving them alone again.

"That was your sister, and I think she remembered you."  
Freya smiled. "Well it won't last long. But you need to stop her. If killing her will stop whatever she's being used for, then kill her. Same with her boyfriend."  
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. So the hoppers were together, were they? That actually didn't shock him too much. "I- I'm sorry I couldn't save you."

"But you did. I think love was enough to save me."

Back at the hopper's holding place, Morgause pardons the room lockdowns for the night. The complex is still quarantined, but the two could go wherever they wanted for the time being. Not that it mattered, really. They were both sitting side by side in the female's room on the floor.

"I'm sorry." The male offers comfort.

"I had completely forgotten most of the details about my own sister until it was too late. And she remembered everything, even my name. We weren't supposed to remember each other's names, let alone see one of us die." She was panicking for a few reasons. First, her twin was dead, and the empathetic link she had gotten so used to felt like a dead line on a telephone that she couldn't hang up. Second, she felt the hop crack under all the emotion, and it frightened her that the drug Morgana called their salvation couldn't work 100% of the time.

"It'll all be okay. Maybe not right now, and maybe not tomorrow, but it'll all be okay." He finally replies. She didn't tell him that the hop broke, and she probably wasn't going to for a long time.

Both Lance and Freya were given honorable memorials. It was tradition with the Knights of Camelot to burn the fallen's body in a small boat on the local lake. These two were no exception.

Merlin was given the privelege of lighting Freya's boat on fire. Instead of a normal lighter, however, he used magic, convinced he'd drop the lighter.

While everyone was lamenting at the water's edge with each other, Merlin noticed a rustle of leaves by the forest next to the lake. He goes to the source of rustling to find Freya's doppelganger watching her sister burn. What did she say her name was again?

"Please don't tell anyone!" She began as soon as she saw Merlin. "Morgouse let me out for this, she didn't tell the lady, and nobody followed me, honest!"

Merlin sat beside her. "I believe you. You're not hopped, are you?"

She shook her head. "It's not working like it used to. I'm starting to feel again, and the only way I can fix it is with crack."

He gave her a quizzical look. "You don't look like-"

"Side effect of the hop," She explained, then stuck out her hand. "We never officially met. My name's Kara, I was Freya's twin."

He accepts her handshake. "Merlin. I was her boyfriend, I think."

Kara laughs a bit. "You think? Most of the time you can tell."

"Well, I was never sure if she felt the same way."

"I'm sure she did."

The two acquaintances sat in silence for a minute.

"I have a question for you, Merlin."

"Ask away."

She crosses her arms, then uncrosses them, very unsure of herself. "Do you ever feel like... Like you've done this before?"

Merlin cocked his head. "Like déjà vu?"

"No, well yes, but more like a past life situation." She tries to backtrack as soon as she says it. "I don't know what to think about what I've been thinking, because usually my thinking's off. I get these strange memories that I know aren't from my lifetime, yet they feel so real. Has that ever happened to you?"

He stares at the broken girl for a minute. "I'm not on any type of drug, if that's what you're asking. But I have felt that past life thing before. It started when I met Arthur."

"Arthur? Why does that sound familiar?" Kara looks puzzled for a brief moment, then remembers. "Oh, yes! I've heard about Arthur. Mor said he used to work for him before, well, you know. You know, it's great being able to tell someone about this. If I ever try to talk to Mor about it, he'll just joke that I'll be hanged for heresy!"

Merlin was going to ask her who "Mor" was, but at that moment some beeping noise emerged from nowhere.

"Oops!" She grabs the back of her neck. "There goes my tracker. Morgouse knew I was coming here, but it looks like I need to get back."

Merlin helps her up. "Alright. It was nice talking to you, Kara."

She turns around to face the sorcerer. "Oh, by the way, Merlin, when we're under the hop we don't register much. So if I see you again and try to kill you, it's not my own will."

And with that she pops off the way she came, just as Arthur approaches Merlin near the forest.

"What were you doing back here?" He asks gently, still concerned about how Merlin was handling the dead girlfriend situation.

"What? Oh, nothing important." He brushes it off and the two start walking back to the Knight's cars.

"You know, Merlin, I wouldn't blame you if you wanted some time off. I think you actually need it."

"No!" He says almost too fast, then corrects himself. "I mean, I don't want to take time off. Arthur, I'd be happy to serve until the day I die."

Arthur gives an impressed look. "Wow, Emrys. Not a lot of people have that dedication anymore."

**Chapter 9**

Since Arthur had talked to Merlin's godfather about "taking time off" and "shock" and "stages of grief", so he was stuck at the pharmacy again. If there were a pissed off stage of grief, Merlin would be there.

Gaius walked through the front door, turning the sign to "Closed" as he does. "Merlin, come with me." When he goes to the inventory room but his godson doesn't follow, he pops his head out of the back room. "Now."

Merlin heaved a sigh and went to the small room. To his surprise, his godfather pushed a shelf back to reveal an old-looking door.

"Gaius, what the-"

"Ask questions later."

The two walk through an ancient tunnel, below the city of Camelot, to end up in a medium-sized apartment. There were old books lining the walls, and the decor had a Middle-Ages feel to it.

"Can I ask questions now? Like what the hell is this place?"

"Ah, young warlock, it's so nice to see you again."

An older man appears from the shadows, smiling with nostalgia.

"Um, do I know you?"

"You did, long ago."

"I'm 21, it couldn't have been _that _long ago!"

"So he really doesn't remember." The old an turns to Gaius, who simply shakes his head. "Thank you, Gaius, I think I've got it from here."

Merlin's godfather silently leaves the apartment, leaving the two alone.

"Okay, so how do I know you, Mr.-?" Merlin tries to gain information.

"No title is required this time, Emrys. I am commonly known as Kilgarrah, as you may remember."

Suddenly an image of a deep and dark cavern appears in Merlin's mind. There was torchlight and... Was that a dragon?!

"Woah!" He grabs his head. "How did you do that?!"

"I did nothing," Kilgarrah smiles. "You are simply remembering me."

Merlin sits at the rectangular table in the center of all the book shelves. "So, in some 'past life' you were a _dragon?_"

The old man laughs. "You sound so unbelieving, but wait until you remember more. Magic has been around for a long time, but it used to coexist with myth. So, why don't you catch me up to speed. Your dear godfather has told me about most of your endeavors, but apparently you had an interesting conversation at your friends' memorials yesterday?"

Merlin decided to trust the old man. For the next ten minutes he relayed his conversation with Kara, and how she said something about past lives. He stopped a few times in the middle of his story, seeing a new image from this supposed "past life" that shocked him every time.

When he finished, Kilgarrah was nodding and pensively thinking. "I remember the old story exactly, young warlock. All the same players, but with a different setting and war."

"Wait- are you saying I already know all these people?"

"In this past life, there was a similar situation. You worked for Arthur, befriended the Knights, fought Morgana, and lost much."

As he listed off these things, new images flooded Merlin's mind. Gwen was a serving girl being crowned queen; Morgana was the king'a ward corrupted; Arthur was a prat (no shock there). Indescribable things popped into his mind as well.

"Kilgarrah, was I friends with the hoppers? I keep seeing a Knight I don't recognize."

"Ah, yes, the hoppers are special cases. Last time the girl was more than willing to kill Arthur with her own free will. The male took more persuading, but he was eventually Arthur's undoing."

"But this time around Morgana's controlling them. She tells them what to do, what to say, even what to think!"

The old man shrugs. "Sounds no different than last time for me. But I must warn you about the hoppers this time round. They are harder to deal with and more prone to violence."

Conversation went on like this for a few hours, until Kilgarrah announced that Merlin had rembered enough for one day. "Come talk to me with any questions you may have, young warlock. And I suggest you don't speak of this to anyone."

**Chapter 10**

"Can you show me?"

"I brought a syringe of it, so technically yes. The effects might freak you out."

Gwaine chuckles a bit. "I've seen the effects on your hoppers, I think I can handle it."

She gives him a skeptic look. "You haven't seen the beginning effects."

"But you've been on it longer than them, so it'll be different. Come on, I want to see."

Morgause sighs, sitting across the bed from the Knight. The two often met in secret at this hotel between the cities, no business involved. Tonight, however, would he a night Morgause would unknowingly commit treason.

"Alright, so once administered, the medicine will shut down certain parts of the brain, and wake up others. I was the initial lab rat for this, so I can almost control it." She takes the syringe with clear liquid out of the case. "Unfortunately, to control this medicine I have to be completely clean. No drugs, no alcohol, nothing of the sort."

The Knight laughs. "So I'd be dead if I took it?"

"Well first off you don't have magic. And since you're on cocaine like all of the other Knights this would eventually kill you."

"Damn, these hoppers have to do this every day?"

Morgause makes a face. "Morgana decided they shouldn't know about the no-drugs policy, I'm not sure why. She also made sure they became addicted to crack, so it's probably a control issue."

Gwaine nods, reflecting on the last time he encountered the mercinaries. "So can we have some fun with this?"

She nods, plunging the syringe into the side of her neck. "You'd be surprised at what I can do while under this."

_Knock knock knock. _"Sir? I have some discoveries about the bank robbery."

Arthur waves in Merlin from the already open door, his mind far away. "Yes, yes. Come in."

Merlin hesitantly steps into the office, laptop in hand. Gwen was nowhere in sight, and the Knights had required training at this hour. "Well, we know for sure it was Morgana's people," he starts, opening the fingerprint scan he had saved in his computer. "It looks like whoever did it was under the hop's influence."

Arthur sighed, his expression still blank. "So it was them. The Unnamed One and his newfound girlfriend."

He makes a face. "Actually, no. I ran all the prints, and it appears Morgause did this while hopped."

The king of crime pulls his attention to the physician. "What? Morgana put her under the hop?"

"I think I have this almost worked out, Mr. Pendragon. If-"

"Please," He silences Merlin with a raised hand. "Call me Arthur."

"Okay. So, Arthur, I almost have this worked out. I believe what we saw with Morgause is the intended method of hopping. She was fully in control, but still followed orders to the T. With the official hoppers, however, I think there's something else going on. Perhaps they're taking a supplement on the side that makes them lose control, or maybe it's a higher dosage. Whatever the case, they're the result of hopping multiplied by x." Merlin finished his mini presentation, waiting for a response.

Arthur stares pensively at the laptop. Merlin could suddenly see him from their previous life, sitting in a throne deciding who lived and who died. When he thought about it, the king's fate wasn't much different this time around. Except for one small detail: Merlin somehow knew he had to keep Arthur from dying this time around.

"Merlin, close the door please."

He did as Arthur asked. "Is something wrong?"

He sighs, running a hand through his hair. "This whole 'hopper' thing has really stressed me out. I don't know how to tell anyone else this, but I genuinely thought we could recover the Knight we lost."

Arthur sits on the edge of his desk, clenching the wood so hard his knuckles turned white. "There is no way we can do that now, is there?"

Merlin stands next to his king sympathetically. "The mental affliction its had on him, I'm afraid nobody could recover from something that traumatic." He puts a hand on Arthur's shoulder. "Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"Why are you being so kind? Most wouldn't care."

He shrugs as though it were a nonchalant matter. "I'm not like most, I guess."

"I had almost forgotten this has affected you too. I really am sorry about what happened to her, you know. If you don't want to go into the field again because of her sister, I understand."

Merlin shakes his head. "I can stand seeing her sister because I know it's not her. What I can't stand is not being able to perform my duties to the best of my abilities."

Arthur stands to face the sorcerer. "You really are something else." Then he does something unexpected: he hugs Merlin.

The two only hug fora few seconds before Arthur breaks it off. "That never happened, okay?" Merlin nods. "Thank you. I needed that. Now, go do some research, or whatever it is you nerds do!" He jokingly insults.

Merlin retorts. "As you wish, clotpole."

The nighttime is filled with nightmares.

It was that night that Merlin truly understood what this "past life" thing really meant.

It meant that history was about to repeat itself. It already was starting to.

He also learned how he could help prevent the end of the story from happening. It involved the lake Knights were burned in.

The next morning Merlin made his excuses to go to the lake he had tried so hard to avoid. Arthur had given him a strange look. "You okay, mate?"

"Yeah, I'll be okay. I think I'm onto something with the extra hopper substances." He lied.

"Okay then. Do whatever you need to. And if for any reason you need backup, text Leon."

He nodded sharply and ducked out.

The lake was still, as though it had expected Merlin to arrive. _Of course it did, _he thought. _Er, she did. Man, I hope I'm not crazy. _

"Uhm," Merlin said to nobody in particular. "I don't really remember yet how this happened last time, but I think you did when you were dying. When we die, we remember all that has happened to us in our past life. And that's what you meant by remembering. I don't even know if you had a life before Morgana kidnapped you. But that doesn't matter to me, because in both lives, this and the past one, at least we found each other. And I'm sorry I couldn't stop this from happening to you. I really am-" he stopped talking, tears blurring his vision of the now rippling water.

Suddenly, an arm reached out of the middle of the lake, holdings small object. The arm them threw it towards the beach, it landing in Merlin's vicinity.

He approached the object. It was a handgun, the inscription reading "Excalibur 2.0". Arthur's sword had followed him into the new life.

Merlin smiles at the now-still water. "Thanks, Freya."

He turns to go back to his car, gun in hand, when something grabs the attention of the corner of his eye. Merlin goes to investigate to find a scrap of paper fluttering under a rock that has the initials MP on them. MP. Morgana Pendragon.

Merlin hastily grabs the paper and reads the short message.

MG,

Send hopper K to site 330. Go with her to retrieve further instructions. Leave M, he seems sick.

-MP

Merlin snaps a picture of the message then returns it to where it was. He then sends a mass text of the picture to Arthur, Leon, Gwaine, Percival, and Gaius, with the words "now" under it.

Morgana sits at her desk in the Druid headquarters, occasionally glancing at the cameras installed in the hopper's rooms. One of the sentries comes running into her office, not bothering to knock.

"My lady," the sentry bows. "I apologize for my rudeness, but I have vital information regarding the transfer that was supposed to occur today at site 330."

"And?" She says, unimpressed by the worker.

"The Knights of Camelot knew, they were waiting for Hopper K and Lady Morgause. The hopper was captured, but not killed."

Suddenly she was invested in what the sentry had to say. "And what of Lady Morgause?"

He stumbles over words. "Arthur, he ordered a Knight to slit her throat. The one with great hair, he killed the Lady. He looked so upset, but he surely did it, my Lady. Checked her pulse myself."

Morgana sits back in her chair, clearly distraught over the loss of her sister. "Leave me. And send someone to clean up the blood in the hoppers' rooms."

The sentry ducks out, leaving Morgana to silently sob while in the background hopper M violently coughs.

**Chapter 11**

Merlin stands outside the questioning room, looking in through a one-way window. The Knights had just intercepted a deal for ingredients Morgana had sent. Her second-in-command, Morgause Golorios, was killed in the process. Merlin thought it a shame she had to die, and he couldn't get the scene out of his head. For some reason Gwaine had been distraught when Arthur gave him the order to slit her throat; it had been weighing on the Knight's conscience it seemed.

The agent they had captured, Morgana had called her "Hopper K" in the message, didn't seem to be in a great state either. Merlin was almost positive her leg was broken in some fashion, and her hop had worn off, making her twitch uncontrollably.

"I'm going to ask you again before I start using other methods of questioning," Arthur leans in towards the silent servant menacingly. "Who else is in the cartel?"

She looks at the king of crime defiantly, then scans the room of other Knights as if to find a familiar face. The Hopper then opens her mouth as if to speak, but instead starts coughing violently onto the stainless steel table she's handcuffed to.

Arthur motions all his men out of the room quickly, hurrying towards the sorcerer. "You need to go in there. She's sick, and I can't have Morgana think we did this."

Merlin nods, then smirks. "Is that really the only reason why, or are you just being nice?"

He sighs heavily in return. "Honestly, Merlin, why would I be nice to a brainwashed Druid like her?"

The physician chuckles as he walks toward the room's door. "Okay, but I'm just saying you're not being as big of a prat as you could be."

The air in the room was heavy and smelled of decay. As Merlin approached the table the Hopper had coughed on he realized why Arthur had called him in: the table was now covered in blood.

Merlin turned to the girl, who was still regurgitating blood. "Hello. My name's Merlin, and I'm here to help you."

He mops up the blood from the table with a simple spell, the Hopper watching the whole time. When he reaches to look at her mouth (to try and understand what caused it), she backs away nervously.

"It's okay," he calmly reassures. "I'm a doctor, I can help whatever it is you have. And your leg, I can fix that too."

The girl hesitantly moves her injured leg towards the sorcerer, wincing in pain the whole time. He gingerly inspects it, then uses magic to properly realign and strengthen the bones that were fractured.

"Nothing a little sorcery couldn't fix." He smiles at the doppelgänger of his dead love, while she finally forms a sentence, the blood in her mouth having been purged.

"Why are you being so kind?"

Merlin looks intently at the Hopper. He realized that she was younger than him by a year at most, but seemed so small in the Knights' headquarters. "We've met before, you know. You told me you wouldn't remember it, but we have met."

She shakes her head quickly. "That was my sister. I am nothing- I am not like her at all."

"I don't believe that. You two seem very loyal to those you love. You'd do anything for them." He paused as she looks away, her eyes somewhere else. "You'd do anything for him, wouldn't you?"

The girl suppresses whatever emotion was rising to the surface, and slowly nods. "I tried to tell him- I thought we should had left before this got all messy. But he wouldn't, so I couldn't. I-" she notices the camera on the wall. "I don't want anyone to know about this stuff."

Merlin takes his handgun out of the physician's bag and swiftly shoots the camera square in the lens. "There. Now it's not a confession, but a time to clear your conscience. I can keep a secret or two for you, just tell me the whole story."

Hopper K looks from the broken camera to the sorcerer back to the broken camera. "Are you sure- oh, screw it, I'm a dead one anyway. Okay, Merlin, I'll tell you everything that's happened."

**Chapter 12**

"Where is she?"

Morgana looks up from her daily reports to find the male Hopper in her office, shivering slightly.

"You're sick, M. Go back to your room and get some rest."

He sits across from her. "She's sick too. The Lady Morgause and Kara left hours ago on a mission that should have taken only half an hour. Where did they go?"

"My god, you really do read the dissertations." The queen of crime gives her agent a satisfied look. "I wish I could give you good news. In your state-"

"With all due respect, my lady, I have been trained for most of my life to handle any situation under any circumstance. So tell me."

Morgana sighs and sets down the reports. "Lady Morgause was killed in action. Her throat was slit by a Knight. As for Hopper K, well, she is now a prisoner of my dear brother's. I have no idea as to what they're doing to her right now."

The Hopper looked like he was going to either cry or burn down a building. "You cannot he serious. You. Cannot. Be. Serious. Please tell me it's a cruel joke."

"Mor, sweetie, I don't play cruel jokes on you. I plan to have an extravagant funeral for Morgause, seeing as how she was more of a sister to me than anything, and we will have a recover team for Hopper K."

The ex-Knight stands quickly. "Okay then. I'm the recover team. I'll be leaving in an hour to the Knights of Camelot's headquarters to retrieve Hopper K. Thank you for your time, my lady."

He leaves before Morgana can protest, dropping a blood-stained napkin on his way out.

"Tell me everything you can remember. This is all off the records." Merlin encourages the Hopper.

"Okay. My sister, Freya, well, she and I were kidnapped by some of Morgana's men. There were others in our situation, but I can't remember them. We were all told there was this experiment for people with magic they had volunteered us for. She promised we'd be supersoldiers, though my sister and I weren't the fighting type. We weren't very social, on account of her medical condition. But you know all about that." she pauses, not sure how to continue. "I woke up a month later. Freya had run from the place, most of the people had died from the experiment, there were three of us left. Morgause Golorios was one of them, but she was also Morgana's lieutenant, so there was really just the two of us."

"Who was the other one?" Merlin asks gently.

"I thought speaking an ex-Knight's name in your headquarters was forbidden by Mr. Pendragon."

"Well I'm not Arthur, and I still don't know who he is, so maybe you should tell me."

The girl nods. "I don't know much about Mordred's past, just that he was a Knight. Actually, all I really remember from the first week of training was meeting him, extreme amount of pain, and Morgana telling me that Freya had escaped. I didn't know what was going on. That part was revealed to me later."

Merlin sympathizes. "That sounds awful. Do you know what's going on now?"

"Oh yes. It seems that Morgana had spent that painful week prepping us for the hopping drug. Once under it, you have to follow orders if it kills you. We were trained under it, we completed all missions under it, and it never broke. We were always on task. Until-" she stops.

"The night you saw Freya die." He fills in the puzzle piece. "She rembered everything in those moments, and somehow your empathy link with her caused you to remember too?"

The Hopper shakes her head. "No, I remember because my hop broke. I witnessed something terrible happening to someone I love, and that made the effects temporarily stop. That's why I remember. She remembered something else."

"What was it?"

"Can I get to that later? That part hurts my head." It was at that moment that she started coughing up blood again. Merlin quickly helped clean up the blood and gave her a towel for her mouth.

"Thanks. Anyway, I was distraught after my sister died. That empathy link felt like a busy line that was always buzzing in my mind. Morgana had noticed this. So she gave me a way to, as she said, 'get over it'. We both did it."

"Did what?" He asks as she pauses to wipe up more blood.

"Crack. I know the Knights here do cocaine, and Morgana will sometimes shoot heroin, but for us it was crack. If we weren't on he hop, we needed it to get through the day. The effects were so odd for people with magic. I can't remember most of what we did, though I know it was fun." She pauses, trying to collect her thoughts. "That's when hopping got worse."

"How do you mean worse?"

"Look." She changed her eye color on command (as all sorcerers can), and Merlin noticed her eyes looked off. Instead of the usual pure gold color, her eye had small red dots scattered about. "Morgause was clean, that's why she could control it. The crack added this, and the-"

She coughs up more blood. Merlin comes to the Hopper's aid once more. "The blood cough?"

The girl nods. "It's killing us. And I fear, if we stop now, it'll kill us even quicker."

Merlin pulls the girl into a hug, upsetted by this news. "My god, I'm sorry, K."

She laughs a bit. "You can call me Kara, you know."

"I wanted your permission first."

Kara breaks the hug, empowered by someone else's care for her. "That's not where my confession ends. There's more."

He sits back in his chair. "Okay. Tell me."

"This started happening to us, and Mordred wanted to keep it a secret from Morgana. I knew we couldn't do that for long, so I tried to convince him that we needed to get out. The crack would be a hard habit to break, but it's nothing compared to hopping. He wouldn't leave, he's too loyal to Morgana. I think it's all because of the hop, I know he's a good person. We just can't remember when we're hopped. Everything but the objective dissolves from our brains. Of course, we always reappear in each other's minds after the hop." She smiles. "So, I couldn't leave because he wouldn't leave. We were caught in a cycle of crack and hopping and foggy memories with questionable morals involved. And on top of all that, my sister's dead empathy link came alive again, in a sense."

Merlin leans forward in his chair. "What do you mean by that?"

"It's not her, but sometimes I'll see these weird images in my mind. Like it's the same people from here that I know and know of, but in a different setting. Like it's in a completely different time period! I'm sorry," Kara shakes her head. "It's insane, and thinking about it makes my head hurt. Mordred says I'm losing it. He knows about the hop breaking, but he's the only one. He says that why I'm seeing things. Could that be why?"

"I- Uhm, I'm not sure. I can check and get back to you on that though. You know what, you seem tired. I can have you put in a nice room for the evening so you can recover."

Merlin stutters.

Kara looks at the table, remnants of blood smearing the surface. "I'd be more comfortable here, actually. But thank you, Merlin. Thanks for everything."

He nods as he exits the room. To figure this girl out, he'd need professional help from an ex-dragon.

**Chapter 13**

Merlin nearly knocks over a display of health magazines as he runs through the pharmacy and into the inventory room where his godfather is taking stock of everything.

"My god, Merlin, slow down! I doubt Arthur wants you to have a concussion." Gaius holds up a hand to stop his godson.

"I need to see Kilgarrah again. It's urgent!" He quickly explains.

"Alright. Might I ask what this is about?"

"Well," he tries to think of a way to explain his situation. "Have you ever felt extreme déjà vu, like you couldn't shake it no matter what?"

Gaius shoots Merlin a _you've got to be kidding me _look. "If you're wondering whether I remember the past life, I do, but in bits and pieces."

The young sorcerer looks slightly shocked. "Oh. Well, that's good to know. Anyway, the Hopper we have prisoner seems to be remembering some as well, and I need to find out why."

The godfather nods solemnly. "It's good that you want to speak with Kilgarrah. He remembers all, and is wise beyond his years. In fact, I think I recall the day he terrorized the citizens of Camelot. But that's not important right now. Here, I'll open the passage for you."

"I was hoping you'd seek my help in this matter, young warlock." The old man barely looked up from his ancient book, waving Merlin in.

He sits at the table, across from where the dragon had recently stacked a few thick volumes. "So you know the whole situation already?"

"Most of it. Did the girl, this Hopper, tell you what she was seeing?"

"No, only that she was recognizing people in the visions. Why would that be happening to her? The only other person that I've seen remember was Freya and that's because she was dying."

Kilgarrah scoots the books to the end of the table, sitting on the edge of his seat. "I have concluded that only those with magic can remember what has happened before. Powerful sorcerers, such as yourself or your godfather, can have their memories jogged. Others are usually under some powerful emotion that causes them to remember. Does this hold true for the girl?"

Merlin nods. "She started remembering after she saw her sister die. I'm starting to think she's the one that shot the bullet, with all the guilt in her head."

"Then that settles it. Guilt triggered this girl's memory. I know your godfather started remembering a long time ago, when you told him you got into the medical program. He was triggered by pride. So tell me, what were you triggered by, young warlock?"

He searches the caverns of his mind. "Well meeting you officially reminded me, but I don't really know what it was that did it for me."

The dragon looks disappointed for a brief moment, then regains his composure. "Okay, then answer this. What happened before you met me?"

"I was taking time off, courtesy of the king himself. He said I needed to recover from- oh. What emotion ties to that?"

"Whatever you felt the most just now. That's what triggered your memory."

Merlin smiled to himself. Whether it was finally belonging to a group, or being with Freya (even if only for a short period of time), he finally understood why he remembered. "Love."

Kilgarrah smiles. "Exactly. Now, if I'm correct, and I usually am, there's going to be a disturbance in the headquarters very soon."

He jumps up from the table, almost causing the old volumes to fall. "Oh gosh, sorry about that. What do you mean disturbance?"

"Don't worry about the books, Merlin. And I mean Arthur's undoing is about to arrive."

Kara sits alone in the questioning room, mentally arguing with herself.

_You killed your sister, _one side accuses.

_Will I be hanged for killing a Knight? _The other side questions in return.

On and on the argument went, accusations and questions involving the Dark Ages flying all over the place in her head.

"Yup," she says to nobody in particular. "I've officially lost it."

Suddenly a loud alarm goes off around the Knights of Camelot's headquarters, causing the internal argument to stop. She couldn't understand what was being voiced over the intercom (apparently the Knights were still under the effects of all the cocaine they had done earlier), but there was no doubt that someone had broken into the headquarters.

Just as she was thinking those things, a familiar Hopper burst into the small room, eyes glowing as he shook glass out of his hair.

"Well this was expected." She says dryly as he shoots the handcuffs loose.

"I brought you a gun too." He pulls out a second handgun and hands it to her.

"That's more like it! Now why are we still here?"

"I remember this place. Come on, there's a ton of secret passageways in this place."

Treason. Breaking and entering. Arson. Even if his mind was recovered from the hopping drug, Arthur would have no choice but to execute the ex-Knight for the stunt he pulled tonight.

"So let's go over this one last time. He breaks in here, frees his girlfriend, gets out, and only Gwen saw him?!" Arthur was coming down from the buzz of cocaine, and the effects were mostly made up of frustration and confusion.

"Everyone else was either doing their daily snort, passed out from said inhalation, or out of headquarters." Leon was the only Knight that wasn't hooked on drugs. He had been guarding one of the off-site labs when the incident took place.

"Peachy. This is just fucking peachy," Arthur replies. "We lost the one thing we could hold over Morgana. Now what?"

"If it helps, Sir, we do now have some of the girl's medical records on file." Merlin points out.

"And now we can identify them easier." Gwen helps her friend.

"That's all?"

"It's actually a substantial amount of information." The physician defends his claim.

"Arthur, why don't we all just go to bed and deal with it tomorrow when we're well-rested?" Gwen assuages her boyfriend's temper.

The king sighs. "Alright. Everyone, to your rooms. We'll deal with all of this tomorrow."

**Chapter 14**

"I've missed you."

Merlin sits up in his bed, half-asleep. Or maybe he was dreaming and was really half-awake.

No. He had to be dreaming. She was dead.

"Wha- what are you doing here? You're dead." He collects his thoughts while gesturing to the girl that sat at the end of his bed.

Freya smiled. "How much do you remember from your past life? I'm the Lady of the Lake, it's hard to explain. Anyway, like I said, I missed you, so I thought I'd visit for a bit. Is that okay, or were you-"

"No, no, please, stay." He moves so they're both sitting side by side, like they used to. "I've missed you too."

They sit together in silence for a few moments, almost feeling like it was back to the way it used to be. Finally Merlin broke the silence with a question that hung in the air.

"When did you remember? Fully remember, I mean."

A distant look crossed her face. "After I was shot, before I died. I didn't just remember my shifty past, but I remembered _everything_. I think if you're dying, and you're a part of this story we seem to live in, you fully remember as you die."

He tried to make sense of what his dead girlfriend had just said. "But I know for a fact Kilgarrah remembers everything, and-"

"He's a dragon, Merlin. They are special cases."

Merlin nods. "Okay. Can you explain why we're seeing only certain memories from the past? Like your sister, for example. She's not seeing much, but what she is seeing are very specific images."

Freya sighs. "She's not really my sister. Not from the past life, anyway. I didn't know her then, and I almost feel like I don't know her now, with what she's become. And I don't know why these images are selected, they just are."

"So if Kara isn't really related to you, then who is she?"

She shrugs. "Another piece of the puzzle I guess. You haven't remembered anything about her?"

"Not yet. I can clearly remember those who have died in this life, and those that I've cared for in both lives. She doesn't seem to fit either of those categories."

Freya looks at him with a thousand years I nostalgia. "So which category am I in?"

He smiles. "Both."

Just then her image flickers, reminding Merlin of the situation. "Right. You're not real."

"I am real, just in a dream."

Loud clicking noises erupt from all around them, like a giant clock waking up.

"I have to go, you're waking up. All I've said is true."

He nods, staring at the fading image of her. "I love you."

She smiles at him. "I love y-"

Her image disappears, and Merlin wakes up short of breath.

"Merlin, I need you in my office for a moment." Arthur calls into the physician's room.

The young sorcerer follows the king of organized crime into his large office, silently questioning what Arthur was carrying with him.

"Sir," Merlin cautiously asks when the office door is locked. "What do you have in your hands?"

He triumphantly holds up a syringe filled with a mysterious liquid. "Leon got it off Morgause's body after the fight. It's the medicine the Hoppers take for missions."

"Did you want me to analyze it for you?"

"I, uh, I was actually hoping we could test it in a stable environment."

"But wha- oh," he realizes what Arthur was asking him to do. "So what, you give me a task and see how I respond?"

Arthur hesitantly nods. "Are you willing to help me?"

Merlin nods in return.

The king half smiles and wipes the syringe with an antiseptic. "Okay then. Let's see how you react to this."

Merlin wakes up on Arthur's office floor, his hands bloody. He slowly sits up, looking around to try and figure out what happened to make his hands maimed.

"Ah, you're awake." Arthur looks up from one of his giant file cabinets. "Do you remember what happened?"

"Uhm, no, I really don't." He replied as he healed his hands with a simple spell.

"Well, you completed the task I gave you perfectly. I only asked you to file these cabinets I'm alphabetical order, and you- well, you worked until your fingers bled, and then some."

He searched his mind. "I don't remember that. Did I pass out after?"

"Yes, but only after I told you your task was completed. D'you think this is what happens to the Hoppers?"

Merlin silently cursed for what he was about to say. "Sir, I did get to speak with the Hopper female when she was our prisoner. She didn't say much, but I do know they both also are under the influence of other drugs."

Arthur makes a face that yells _so what? _"Such as?"

"Crack. I feel it affects the hop for them."

"Merlin, most of the Knights and I have been on cocaine for years. How could another drug affect them?"

"Arthur, what did my control level look like to you?"

He nods. "Very stable."

Merlin turns to look at him. "And I'm clean. So was Morgause, and she learned to control, even remember these hops. The girl, she told me they were completely out of control when under this. I'm sure it's that crack."

The king sighs. "So these Hoppers can't remember their missions, and they can't control what they do in them?"

"I'm afraid not."

Arthur sets his head in his hands, near the breaking point. "I don't know what I'm going to do, Merlin." He laments. "I don't want to kill him, but what choice do I have?"

He understands who the king is speaking of. "I told the girl I wouldn't speak if what she told me, but her hop was broken by a strong emotion. Seeing someone she cared about die was enough to tear that connection, and it's been an unsteady connection ever since. If we can break his, there might he hope."

Arthur stands to face the physician. "Then I will do what it takes. He's still a good man, he's just under terrible circumstances."

Merlin nods solemnly. "I know, Arthur. I know."

The duo share a quick hug, and Merlin is dismissed from the room to record their findings.

**Chapter 15**

_Knock knock knock. _"You don't have to knock, K."

She cautiously steps into her boyfriend's room, which is identical to hers. "Have you read the outline of our next mission?"

He hesitates, then nods. "I know it'll be hard for you, going back in there."

Kara makes a confused face. "Well, I imagine it'll be harder for you, why with living there for so long."

The Hopper turns to his counterpart. "Look, I know you're going under some weird psychological insanity right now, but it might be big news to hear that I don't care about my past. They're dead to me, all those Knights."

She steps back a few paces. "Does nothing matter to you?"

"You do."

One upside to being on crack was that their relationship had strengthened; it was easy to say they were "serious". He lightly kissed her on the nose. "Come on then," they start out of the room. "We've got a mission to complete."

Gwen sits nervously on the edge of their bed as Arthur prepares for battle. The Knights had received word from a spy in Morgana's ranks that the Hoppers would be attempting an attack on their North Lookout Tower; it was where Camelot had entrusted a "secret weapon" to be protected.

"Arthur, perhaps you shouldn't go." She pleads with the king.

He tucks a small knife in his belt. "You know I can't do that," Arthur half smiles at his girl. "I made a vow to protect that weapon for Camelot from Morgana and her men, and I intend to do just that." He was still coming down from the high all the Knights had partaken in. Arthur's eyes looked a little glazed over. "I promise I'll be home by morning."

Gwen hands him another knife to hide in his belt. "I don't want a death toll tonight. Enough have died in Morgana's little game."

"Gwen, more will die, I guarantee it. There is no way peace can be achieved without bloodshed."

She stops him from leaving the room by gently grabbing his arm. "Then guarantee me that you won't kill unless you absolutely have to. Guarantee that you'll keep Camelot safe at a low cost."

Arthur kisses her before responding. "You have my word."

The Knights take their posts around the North Tower. Arthur and Merlin were assigned to guard the weapon itself in case Morgana's men got past everyone else.

"You know, Merlin, you can go back if you want." Arthur quietly tells his friend.

"I'll be by your side for everything, Arthur," Merlin replies. "You're not getting rid of me. Besides, maybe I can remind the girl of our conversation. I must stay."

The king of organized crime nods in return. Suddenly, Leon's voice comes over the Knights' connected earpieces.

"Attention, Arthur, Merlin," he is out of breath. "We are all down. The Hoppers are inside. Be prepared."

The connection breaks and a different voice takes Leon's place: a chilling, male voice void of emotion.

"Hello Arthur," he said. "Long time no see, eh?"

The color drained from Arthur's face. This was definitely the ex-Knight.

"Oh, don't worry, great king," he continues. "I do not act of my own accord. You have three minutes to vacate the premesis and escape certain pain."

Arthur doesn't reply, so Merlin takes over.

"You'll have to kill us first, Hopper. We're waiting."

The voice doesn't reply for a few moments, then...

"So be it."

**Chapter 16**

The two wait in silence for the oncoming fight. Arthur holds a gun in one hand and a knife in another. Merlin doesn't need weapons; he relies on his magic to overpower the other two's.

Fortunately for them, they didn't have to wait very long for their opponents. The Hoppers were quick to reach the duo, and the four stood directly across from each other, waiting for someone to make the first move.

Arthur decides to try and neutralize the situation. "I know we stand on opposite sides of a coin, but trust me, ou don't have to do this."

The male smiles with a malicious intent. "I have no choice."

Merlin turned his attention to the girl. She looked less sure of herself; he noticed her eyes were breaking their golden pigment every once in a while. He looked closer still to notice flecks of red poisoning her eye. "Please reconsider what you're doing, Kara. I know this isn't what you want."

The girl averted her gaze and steadily drew her dagger. "It's not about what I want anymore."

Suddenly the four began a drawn-out battle. Merlin found himself fighting the girl; she was expertly trained but hesitant in hurting the sorcerer. Things were happening too fast for Merlin to comprehend given the amount of magic he was using. Before he knew it he and Arthur had switched fighting partners. The male was as good as the female, maybe even better.

All at once the scene around Merlin froze and he could see everything. Turning his attention to Arthur, he noticed a disturbing event about to take place. Somehow Arthur has managed to tie a noose around the girl's neck, her back facing an open window. Her eyes had reverted to their original color, not a trace of the hop.

Everything unfroze and both Merlin and the Hopper watched in shock as Arthur flipped Kara out of the window, the noose right around her throat. The rope fell with her, but being tied to a nail in the floor, grew taut.

Nobody moved, not even Arthur. The rope ceased its swinging, signaling the girl's demise.

"What have you done?" Merlin breaks the silence.

"I- I did what I had to." Arthur barely chokes out.

Merlin turns to find the other Hopper gone without a trace.

Just as she was crossing off another day on her calendar, a knock appears at Morgana's door. "Yes," she absentmindedly replies.

A younger agent of hers cautiously steps into the room, holding an urn. "M'lady? The autopsy has been completed. I have the ashes right here for you." She holds out the small jar to her employer.

Morgana doesn't look up from her paperwork, lost in thought. "I told you to give it to Hopper M. He has more need of it than I do."

"He won't open his door, ma'am. It's been three days and nobody's seen him. I tried to tell him about your prisoner, but-"

She holds up one hand. "You've been very helpful. Let me handle Hopper M, you focus on cleaning out Hopper K's room. Anything she might have valued in any way you report to me, understand?"

The girl quickly nods, curtsies, then exits, leaving the small urn of what was Hopper K on Morgana's desk.

The queen contradicting Camelot sighs heavily, staring at the paper that contains her life story. If anyone were to ask her, and most knew better than to, she would simply state that she was the unwanted half-sister to Arthur Pendragon, his sworn enemy from the day she was denied the inheritance of the cartel.

Her father had been allies with her mother's husband; their cartels were working together back in the day. The affair between her father and mother had caused a riff in the alliance, creating the opposing cartels Camelot knew today. Morgana and Arthur had been raised as equals, neither of them knowing they had different mothers. Only when Morgana had discovered she had magic did her father tell them the truth: she was an illigetimate child, unworthy of the cartel. She fled Camelot to take control of the opposing force, swearing revenge on her half-brother.

And last year, she found a way to get back at him. Morgana had never put too many emotional value into the Hoppers; she knew they would have a short life expectancy. But losing one felt odd, as though her collection were now incomplete.

She shakes the feeling, stands from her desk, and makes for the last Hopper's room with the jar in hand.

**Chapter 17**

Arthur slams his fist on the map of Camelot, still on the effects of the cocaine he did earlier. "It's been three days, surely you have some idea where she is!"

Percival, Leon, and Gwaine all shake their heads with remorse. "Somehow, Sir, Morgana's men captured Gwen while we were all fighting at the North Tower. Scout after scout have tried and failed to locate her. We can only fear the worst." Percival reports.

Merlin stands back from the group, lost in thought. He had started to remember more over the past three days, probably due to the girl's recent death. It made him wonder who else had woken up, and why they had.

"Merlin, do you have any insight as to where Gwen might be?" Leon asks gently, not wanting to upset the physician. All the Knights had been tiptoeing around him lately, and Merlin had to guess it was because they saw the hop in full effect on people with magic.

Suddenly, Morgana's chilling voice echoes through Merlin's head.

_Hello, Emrys. _

"Arthur she's in my head. I can hear her." Merlin tells him immediately.

"Tell us what she's saying!" He commands.

_Oh, I wouldn't do that, Emrys. You see, they haven't awaken yet, so you'd seem as same as I seem. _

"Um, she's taunting me, she's not saying anyting really."

_Yes, I woke up when my sister died. I woke from hatred, Emrys. I know The Hopper woke from grief. And now, the other Hopper wakes from sorrow. _

"Merlin. Update?" Arthur grew impatient.

"Give me a minute, the connection's spotty!"

"Is it like a cellphone tower?" Gwaine jokes.

_Tell me, Merlin, what woke you? Oh, I know some woke from imminent death, but I'm sure you had a good reason to realize what's happening. _

"My head, it's hurting." Merlin drops to the floor, holding his head in his hands.

_I heard a great little rhyme from a genius yet disabled girl. Aithusa told me like Kilgarrah tells you:_

_One by one,_

_The cycle repeats_

_One by one_

_Until we're all gone. _

_Cute, isn't it? Not the most clever, but I like it. _

Merlin felt a need to talk back to his adversary.

_Tell me where te Lady Gwen is, now. _

She replies, _Oh my, using old titles again, are we? I wanted to cheer Hopper M up; he's been so upset lately. They're in the torture chambers right now. I doubt she'll ever leave. _

"For god's sake, Merlin, do you know or don't you?"

"She said something about a torture chamber. That's all she'll say."

Percival sits up at the news. "Does she mean the Dark Tower? Gwaine and I know where that is, we can go there now!"

Arthur drags Merlin to his feet. "Emrys, I could kiss you! Come on men, we've got a torture to interrupt!"

"I'm sorry, M'lady, we've tried everything," Morgana's private doctor pleads over the phone for mercy. "There's no saving your friend now."

The corrupt queen holds back tears. Besides Morgouse, who was dead anyway, Aithusa had been one of her closest advisers. The girl has cerebral palsy, and it was only getting worse for her. "Are you sure you've tried everything?"

"I'm afraid so. We can't try another operation without risking death."

Morgana puts her free hand to her temple, suddenly having a flashback of her poor friend. "Thank you, that will be all."

She leans against the door to the torture room, where Gwen's screams are being muffled by he thick walls.

The door suddenly opens and the last Hopper slides out, shutting the door behind him.

"Feeling better?" She fakes a smile.

"Not really, but I do have something for you. I figured you'd want to kill her yourself." He gloomily replies, handing Morgana a silver platter with its cover.

She slowly lifts the lid to reveal two brown eyes freshly gored out of Gwen's head. Despite all that had happened in the last day, Morgana smiled genuinely. "Thank you for doing this, dear. I know it's hard when you-"

He holds up a hand to silence her. "I still don't want to talk about it just yet. If you'd excuse me, I have a splitting headache I should look into."

She lets her soldier leave the torture area, smiling behind his back. He was waking up. Finally.

_Well, _Morgana thinks to herself, _Time to finish what has been started. _

Arthur is the first of the Knights to break down the Dark Tower's main entrance, his favorite handgun at the ready. Merlin was close behind him, and the remaining Knights after him. It was an old building, with no light or heat sources. As they checked the downstairs rooms, Merlin silently wondered how Gwen could still be alive in these conditions.

Gwaine calls for the other Knights from the room he was checking. "Guys?! This wasn't here last time we searched this place!"

The others ran into what used to be an old parlor to find the Knight staring at the wall. Arthur and Merlin turned their heads to the wall almost in unison. Somebody had written the words _wake up_ in blood.

"Morgana?" The king asks his men.

"I'll take a sample." Merlin rushes to the wall to chip off some of the blood-stained paint.

Percival motions everyone to the stairs. "I doubt it is Gwen's, Sir. It looks like that blood has been there a long time anyway."

He succeeds in corralling the posse upstairs, this time with Merlin and Arthur at the back. The physician insisted on accompanying the king of crime into the room he was to search. If Gwen was indeed still here, he wanted to be by his side.

Thankfully, Gwen wasn't in the room they checked. She was in the room Leon checked. Arthur dashed into the room, closely followed by Merlin. What they saw brought the king to his knees in sobs.

Gwen's eyes had been gored from her head, along with her tongue cut, and her throat slit. Morgana (or one of her men) had written another blood message on the floor.

_This is war._

Hardly anyone could speak; they all just stood there, staring at Gwen's dead body.

Finally, when Merlin and Gwaine were helping Arthur to his feet again, Percival ventured a guess. "Morgana...?"

"No," Arthur managed. "I know that handwriting. Those clean cuts are too familiar; it wasn't my sister at all."

The Knights leave the Dark Tower quickly per request of the king. All Arthur said was they had major plans to create.

**Chapter 18**

_Wake up. _

_You died, do you remember?_

_He killed you both. _

_But you killed him. _

_I guess nobody won. _

Hopper M wakes up suddenly. His headache was back, and it was worse. For the past few days Morgana has confined him to his room for "health issues". The only issues he could see were that he had a splitting headache and weird dreams.

The dreams weren't that bad, really. It was the only place his head didn't hurt, like his brain understood the place. Everyone Hopper M knew was in them. Things were different there though; Arthur Pendragon was a _king, _and the two of them worked together for whatever kingdom they lived in.

And then he started to wonder why these dreams were occurring. Why that voice in the back of his mind kept telling him how people died that were still alive. None of it was possible, he knew that, but then there was that weird sliver of hope that-

No. Morgause could not come back from having her throat slit. Hopper K could not come back from being hanged. Both those bodies had been cremated (it was Morgana's way of honoring the dead), and there was definitely no way to come back from that.

And Arthur's girlfriend. The one Morgana had him torture without any hop. She couldn't come back. He couldn't be forgiven for what he's done, with or without the drug that made him.

The intercom from Morgana's room springs to life at that moment. "I saw you had waken up. Is everything alright?"

He sighed in relief. Those weird dreams had told him Morgana cares for him "last time", and it seemed nothing had changed there.

"Yeah," he replies tiredly. "I'm okay."

It's only when he climbs back into bed that he admits to himself. "I'm okay, aren't I?"

Merlin waits outside the king's quarters. They had found Gwen in the dead of night; it was midday now. All the Knights that were there had gone to their chambers after the event, and not one of them had left since.

The young physician hadn't gone to his room; he no longer found solace where he once loved another. Instead, not sure what to do with himself to process the event, he sat outside Arthur's quarters to ponder how things had recently gone. Also, if Arthur did need anyone, he wanted to be first in line.

He had been visiting the "dragon" more frequently now to fully understand this "past life" so he could better prepare for the future. Merlin remembered Hopper K after she died; he barely knew her last time. One thing that was certain: Gwen hadn't died. At least, not that early and in that manner. Mordred was long dead by the time Gwen passed. As he sat, he decided that nothing would ever happen exactly the same (he'd have to remind himself if this bloody cycle repeated again). Merlin also knew that he personally couldn't die until Arthur's duty was fulfilled. How he became young again, and how he forgot all of this, was still a mystery to him.

Just then Arthur opens the door to his room, eyes red from crying and lack of sleep.

"Emrys," he notices his friend sitting on the floor. "Were you here all night?"

Merlin stands to meet the king eye-to-eye. "I didn't want you to feel you were alone in this." Arthur then does the unexpected again: he hugs the physician.

It was weird at first, then nice. The king gave pretty decent hugs.

"Thank you," he replies. "I don't want to be alone in this."

There was a moment of understandable silence between the two friends as they composed themselves (Merlin knew he couldn't let Arthur see him cry, or vice versa). The king of organized crime, back to his character of toughness, then calls for a meeting.

"Merlin, can you found up the Knights? We have a war to plan."

"Sir, you can't be serious! Not so close to-"

He cuts off the young warlock. "You saw the message. This is war. My sister wants a war? I'll hit her where it hurts the most."

Arthur didn't elaborate, so Merlin stepped in. "Which would be...?"

"I'm going to kill the only person she still cares about."

**Chapter 19**

Arthur spent most of his time in his private study, prepping for whatever master scheme the Knights would have to carry out. He was hardly seen by anybody, and the rumor was that he rarely slept or ate on account of his obsession with ending this drug war.

He did, however, let Merlin in a few times to chat about business/plans/other people. Merlin guessed he had become the king's right-hand-man, and he enjoyed it. When he wasn't with Arthur (and they were together a lot), he was either hanging out with the Knights, talking to his godfather and the dragon man that lived underground, or trying to piece Morgana's poisonous puzzle together. Merlin just _knew _there was something they weren't getting, and he was determined to find out what.

One day he decided to use one of the class labs at Albion Hospital. Sure, Merlin had graduated early from med school to further his work with the Knights, but that didn't mean he couldn't use his old school's facility. Under Arthur's request, he asked Gwaine, who was probably his closest friend of the Knights, to go with him so he wouldn't be attacked by Morgana's men. He happily agreed, but first asked if they could stop by the local animal rescue center so he could drop off an abandoned cat that had been wandering around Camelot for a while.

Merlin hadn't been too the animal rescue center before, but there wasn't much to see. The only worker was an older lady who introduced herself as Elena, and there weren't enough animals to keep her occupied.

Elena gleefully accepted the cat. "Oh, isn't he sweet?" She asked the two, then continued without waiting for a response. "I was never the cat expert myself. We used too have this wonderful college girl help out; she really liked the cats. What was her name? It was something kind of weird. Hmm, what was it..."

The woman thought for a while as Gwaine offered to make up a bed for the new cat. Per his request Merlin went to the storage room to find a cage big enough for the cat. Passing through the bird section from the storage, the young physician caught a glimpse of the facility break room; a bright red bag in particular. It didn't look like the kind of bag Elena would carry (he saw a reusable shopping tote also on the table, which was definitely Elena's), so he approached the mysterious bag and it's contents carefully.

Trying not to make any noise, Merlin emptied the contents of the tote onto the table. There was a small Tupperware of strawberries (now rotten, how long has this been here?), a thick book about large cats, a few textbooks (probably for an English major), some scrap paperwork (girly handwriting), and a dead cellphone. Wait, something was familiar here.

Quickly as possible, Merlin returned the contents back into the bag and rentered the main part of the rescue center with the cage.

"Ah, thank you Merlin." Gwaine takes the cage while shooting him a where-have-you-been look.

"Of course, pal." He replies through his teeth while returning the look with a just-go-with-what-I'm-about-to-do glance. "Elena, you were talking about a girl who worked here earlier. When did she stop working here?"

Elena looks up from some new paperwork about the cat. "Oh, I'd say a little over two months ago. It was very strange. She stepped out of the building for a minute and never returned. Her things are still here too. Haven't heard from her since."

What was clear to Merlin soon became clear to Gwaine: this lady wasn't in her right mind.

"Well," the Knight hands her the newly-made cat bed. "Here ya go ma'am. Hate to dash so quickly, but Merlin and I have some errands to run. Right?"

"Oh, um, yes, very important. Thank you for taking the cat in, miss. Catch you later!"

The two hurried out.

"Really? A girl she works with goes missing and she doesn't think to call the police?" Gwaine looks disgusted.

"That's not all. Did you notice when she disappeared?"

"She said over two months ago, yeah? What're you getting at, Emrys?"

The physician shakes his head. "I'm not sure yet. Let's just go to the hospital. I have some tests I'd like to run."

Albion Hospital had one lab the med students were allowed to use. It wasn't much, but it had the necessary equipment to run the tests Merlin needed.

Gwaine looks around the facility. "What exactly are you doing here?"

His friend shows him a picture he took when they were in the Dark Tower. "Remember this weird message we saw? I took a chip of bloodied wood from it. I thought if I ran some tests here we could find out whose blood it is."

The Knight studies the picture intently. "Wake up. What do you think that means?"

He shakes his head. "No idea. But if we find the person maybe it'll be clearer."

Merlin sets up the tests for the machines to run while Gwaine looks around the lab. It was pretty clean, except for one station.

"Hey Emrys, come check this out!" He calls nervously from the station in use.

Merlin abandons the running tests to see what his friend was worried about. "I've seen this station before. Its been like this for a while."

It was an old experiment; the sample that was being studied had dried out somehow. There was a bright blue tote leaning on the stool, stuffed with different textbooks and papers. The station itself only had one sheet of paper and a pencil out. The handwriting was clearly girly, similar to the type Merlin had seen in the animal center.

"How long did you say this has been here?" Gwaine asked.

"Maybe a month before I met you guys. Wait," Merlin had a moment of realization as Gwaine held up the picture from the Dark Tower.

"Same handwriting as far as I'm concerned."

Merlin emptied the contents of another's tote for the second time that day. "Most of these textbooks make it look like she was pre-med." he confirms as he shuffles through papers.

"So college-age, yeah?"

"Yeah. Pretty smart, too." He holds up an old test sheet with a bouncy A+ on the front.

Suddenly, the machine dings, signaling the end of the tests.

The warlock rushes to the machine to read the results. "It's no good," he sighs. "The machine couldn't read it."

"Emrys, I think we should get out of here," Gwaine advises. "Pieces of information are falling into place in my head like a game of Tetris."

The two exit Albion Hospital and sit in a Knight of Camelot-issued car.

"The girl from the animal center disappeared over two months ago," Gwaine begins plainly. "And so did the girl that worked in that lab."

Merlin nods along. "They had the same handwriting and type of bag, too. I may or may not have snooped through the other girl's stuff." He explained.

"You know who else disappeared over two months ago? Well, he didn't really disappear. Morgana kidnapped him. Emrys, do you think this is all connected somehow?"

He sighs. "I might know. But I need to consult someone first. As soon as I do know what's going on I'll tell you."

"Thank you both for meeting me here," Merlin solemnly greets his godfather and Kilgarrah in the underground library. "I have a theory on why Morgana kidnapped the people she kidnapped."

Kilgarrah sits back in his chair. "I can prove or disprove your theory, young warlock. Chances are I already know of it."

"Well I don't. So please enlighten me." His godfather sits on the edge of his seat.

Merlin didn't bother sitting he was pacing all about the library, hands trying to express what his words couldn't. "It's clear Morgana 'woke up' and remembered her past life before either of us. So if she were trying to overthrow, or even kill, Arthur again, she knew she needed powerful magic on her side. She already knew of two other people with magic she'd want on her side- only problem was one of them was currently a Knight and the other was too risky to approach at first-that's me by the way, hello. So what does she do?" He pauses to collect his thoughts. Kilgarrah nods encouragingly.

"Okay, well I don't know how, but somehow she knew about my relations in the past life. She figured if she had Freya under this weird medicine maybe she could use her to convince me to join her. But she didn't know the little detail that Freya was- er, is still, I think- a were-panther, or something like that. It wouldn't work on her. That part took her out of the Hopper's equation and into the Knights'."

"But it didn't take her out of the equation." Gaius contradicts.

"I'm getting there, just stay with me. Next we have the Knight. He's so loyal to Camelot, so honorable, he would never go against Arthur, right? Well, what made him go against Arthur last time?" He waits for a response for a minute before continuing. "That was so in case the medicine didn't work on him, which maybe Morgana was concerned about, he'd still have a reason to stay on her side. If his girlfriend were in the system he wouldn't dare leave."

Kilgarrah nods slower. "You're giving is the ideal situation. What's the real situation?"

"Okay. So, I don think Morgana knew the two girls would be related. They weren't last time, so why would hey be this time? It doesn't matter, I guess, but it complicated the equation with Freya. Her sister was in the system and completely under the medicine when she got out, so of course she'd want to go save her. But her sister, even after the medicine 'broke', didn't want to leave because of her boyfriend. And Arthur killing her cemented the probability of him staying on Morgana's side."

Once again Kilgarrah nodded. "Okay, okay, I see how you drew those conclusions. I'm not familiar with this term 'break'. Care to elaborate?"

"Sure, sure. I saw it happen when Freya was dying. Her sister was under the medicine's affects, but seeing someone she cared about die made the medicine abruptly stop. That led to a lot of emotions the medicine had been supressing emerge, and caused such a powerful emotion that she woke up and started remembering."

"Do you think the boy 'broke' when she died as well?" Gaius questions.

"Oh yes. I didn't see him when she died, cause I was kind of staring at Arthur and her hanging body, but if there were anyone is kill to break him, I'd kill her. It worked last time!"

"Yes, but some of the rules have changed since then." Gaius recalls. "Last time Gwen died after I did, and not in that way."

Merlin nods pensively. He rembered being with Gwen as she died. She had ruled to an old age, loved by the people. It was hip orange last time. This time Morgana didn't care about honor. "I know things are changing from last time, believe me. But I saw the way they looked at each other. It's the same way Arthur looked at Gwen in both lives. I don't think you can erase a love like that."

The two men stand, signaling the end of the discussion. "I surely hope so, young warlock," Kilgarrah agrees quietly. "This world could all use a little more love."

**Chapter 20**

Back at the Hopper Compound, M carefully enters a room he usually wouldn't. For some reason Morgouse had convinced her superior to let them have a scientific lab before her untimely death. It was a small yet elaborate lab; everything was labeled and in place.

Well, almost everything.

One station was in use. Since M had never been there before, he knew his girlfriend was using it before she was killed. He gently approached the equipment and examined the various slides she had set up for the microscope.

The first slide was labeled with her girly handwriting: My Blood (K), 2 weeks.

Unsure of what he'd see, M looked at the slide under the microscope.

He sighed, relieved. "Just ordinary blood." He told himself.

The second slide was dated at a later time: My Blood (K), 1 1/2 months.

This was closer to her death date. It was also after she started getting sick. They were weird symptoms: coughing (sometimes blood), lack of sleep, nightmares if she slept, hallucinations (she kept talking about a dungeon and swords?), and something she called "waking up", which all seemed unrelated to him. Unfortunately, he had been having most of those symptoms lately, sans hallucinations.

"Well," he says to himself, swapping the slides, "might as well..."

What he saw disturbed him slightly.

This normal drop of blood had small spots of gold laced in it. They would be almost invisible if they weren't bursting and reforming within the sample.

M steps back for a minute. He never liked science.

Switching off the microscope, M takes notice of two elaborate drawings of eyes on the lab's table. K had drawn these as well, and with great attention to detail.

The top drawing was labeled once again: My Eye When Hopped (K), 2 weeks.

It looked exactly as expected: all the different shades of gold melting towards the pupil. Nothing outrageous there.

The second drawing, however, was more interesting. It was labeled with the same time as the second drop of blood: My Eye When Hopped (K), 1 1/2 months.

Same eye, same gold hues. But throughout the iris were splotches of red (blood?), infecting the magic with something less pure.

What was she trying to prove? M knew the Hop was going to change them, there was no doubt in his mind about that, but he didn't think it'd be too harmful to them.

A sheet of paper falls from under the drawings. Carefully, M picks it up and begins to read out loud.

"'I think this medicine is slowly poisoning us. Since I have started to remember, these symptoms have been active. I also fear if we stop usage of the medicine we will die quicker than if we kept with it. M has yet to remember. The Lady does remember. During this mission tonight I will see if Morgouse remembers as well.' Wait... This is dated from the night she was kidnapped." He realizes. "And remember what? There's nothing to remember!"

"Oh, but you're wrong about that." A voice behind him declares. M turns around quickly to see none other than Arthur himself, though in clothing more suitable for the Middle Ages or something.

"You- you're not real. I know you're not real. They'd never let you in here. No Hopper ever has guests." He disproves the apparition.

The figment-Arthur shrugs. "Sure, a Hopper has guests. In his or her mind is the best place to entertain old friends."

"We are not friends, Arthur Pendragon."

"We were once. Long before these drug wars ran the streets of Camelot, long before any of us involved were born, we were friends. But that's not true now, is it?"

M steps towards the lab door. "I don't have to listen to you. You may have killed her, but you won't kill me."

He laughs. "Kill you? I don't want to kill you! Last time it was because I had no choice. No, I'll let you destroy yourself."

"Wait- last time?!"

The figment laughs again. "I'll let you remember that on your own. Or maybe with a lost loved one. It doesn't matter to me, does it? From now on, no matter where you are, what you're doing, or what drug you're under, someone you care about that's dead will be constantly speaking to you. Doesn't matter if it's Morgouse, or Kara, or Elyan, or-"

"Elyan?" M asked with a hint of recognition. "Why do I remember that name?"

"You'll remember a lot more than names. Have fun." With those parting words, the image of Arthur disappeared.

M quickly left the lab and went to his room. Morgana had dropped off his daily allowance of crack earlier. If he was going to start seeing things, he might as well have fun with it.

Alright. This was it. Arthur's plan was coming together for him.

_We lure them out of the compound, overwhelm them with our power, and then-_

And then what? Arthur kills his sister and his former friend, takes all her weapons and innovations, and they call it a day?

That won't bring Gwen back. That won't bring Lance or Elyan back. Sure Arthur wanted to win in their memory, for their sacrifice towards the greater good, but he'd never see them again. _What's the point? _He asks himself.

And in that moment of despair, the king of organized crime realized what had to happen. Camelot had to prosper past this war, but it couldn't prosper with him. Something inside him told him that he wouldn't make it out of this war alive.

_Well good. What would I do past all of this?_

But his friends. His employees. His Knights. They were like brothers to him.

_We lost three of out brothers already. You'd be but one more. _

And then again Arthur had another revelation. A voice that sounded distant but clear told him that nobody was getting out alive.

And he found comfort in that.

**Chapter 21**

"We make our stand here," Arthur stabs a knife into the map on the Round Table. "Camlann. It's neutral territory for both sides, and if we approach it from Camelot we'll have a good chance of winning the battle."

The other men in the room silently nodded. Merlin stood behind Arthur, surveying the Knights' gaunt expressions. The hell these men had been put through in just under 6 months had taken a toll on their usual cheery nature. Nobody knew the additional price they'd have to pay when they joined this drug ring.

"Sir, if I may ask, why battle Morgana now?" Leon speaks up.

The king of organized crime sighs with the weight of a thousand years. "For all those we lost, be they dead or still alive, and for the sake of Camelot's future. For this organization's well-being we must stand for our right. We must end it, Leon. And it'll end here." He drives the dagger further into the table. Leon solemnly nods in understanding.

With a snap of Arthur's fingers Merlin passes out sheets of paper to the Knights with their specialized orders for the imminent battle. "Eyes on your own paper, gentlemen. These are designed so that not a single man can know all the plans. Except for Arthur, that is." The young physician instructs. "When you've memorized them, burn them."

The remaining Knights pour over their marching orders, then one by one take their lighters to the page.

Arthur slowly nods in satisfaction. "We ride tomorrow. In the meantime, why don't we have one last hurrah? Percival, I trust you have what I asked for?"

Percival grins as he pulls a nondescript bag out from under the table. "Of course."

"Well, I'll just take my leave then." Merlin begins to exit the room, Leon at his heels.

The two walk towards the housing section in silence for a bit. Finally Merlin breaks the quiet.

"Why don't you ever join them?"

Leon sighs. "That stuff they do, the cocaine, it ruined my life once upon a time. Arthur's father was actually my main supplier before I got clean. It took a while, but after rehab I had a personal vendetta against the Pendragon's drug trade."

The warlock stops walking and turns to his friend. "Really? But you work for Arthur."

He smiles slightly. "Arthur's a good man. He talked me out of my rage, offered me a stable new life. I jumped at the offer. But I never touched the stuff again."

"Wow, I never would have guessed that about you." Merlin looks upon his friend with a newfound respect.

"Yeah, not a lot of people do."

When they reached the housing, Leon offers his friend a formal handshake. "In case we don't see each other before Camlann, I'd like to thank you for all you've done for us. For Camelot, for the patients of this place, hell, even for Arthur himself!"

Instead of the handshake, Merlin goes for a hug.

"Tomorrow? Then we must prepare immediately!"

Morgana sits at her desk, looking tired and weak behind the giant panels of polished wood. The others in her office were her most trusted advisors, which weren't many. One of the spies had managed to get the message about Arthur's plans to the opposing group just before she was discovered. With any luck the girl was long dead. Morgana hadn't even known her name.

"My lady, we still haven't fully disclosed all of your brother's plans. If we were to perhaps lure them to a more familiar territory-"

"No." She silences one of the lieutenants with a quick flick of the wrist, cutting out his tongue. "If I'm correct, and I usually am, this is where my dear brothers led his final stand."

The now mute lieutenant nods, accepting his punishment for opposing his leader.

"Good. So we're all on the same page. Tomorrow morning we set out for Camlann."

All the advisors nod and exit from the room.

"Wait," Morgana calls to the exiting cluster. "Hopper M, I need to speak with you."

The last Hopper returns to the office. His condition has gotten worse; with little sleep, excessive drug use, and claimed hallucinations. Morgan knew exactly what was going on.

"Has your head been hurting during this meeting?" She coats her words in a layer of honey.

The male hesitates, then nods. "When you said 'Camlann', that's when it started."

She smiles a venomous grin. "Exactly as I expected."

"Ma'am?" He is confused.

"Tomorrow, at Camlann, there will be an improtant task you'll need to fulfill. If you want, I can give you the Hop one last time for it."

"But why would it be-" the Hopper stops in a point of realization. "She was right. It is killing me."

"And you have one last time before it makes you terminally ill." The grin was gone, replaced by empathy for her friend.

He pauses to cough, letting blood rain into an already sullied tissue. "Then these hallucinations, these dreams- they're real too? Camlann already happened?"

"In a different time."

"Then I know what I must do. And if you don't mind," the Hopper smiles for the first time since his counterpart died. "I'd like to be fully aware when this happens."

This is it. It ends here.

Camlann, where the fate of this world will be decided.

The Knights check that their guns are loaded and that their knives are sharp as their combat skills.

The silence is deafening just before the battle commences.

Those at the battlefield will hear that shattering quietness only one other time in their lives.

The war begins.

**Chapter 22**

Merlin frantically searches the sea of fighting people for Arthur. He was nowhere to be found. The physician was worried; the night before he had a terrible dream involving this very same place. Camlann. He knew what it all meant. Merlin finally understood what everything had been leading up to.

Arthur was going to die again. And he needed to stop it.

_Come on, Emrys, think! Find Arthur. _

For once his mind listened, and a clear image of the king shooting one of Morgana's men pops into his head. There were no other Knights near him, and others were closing in on him quickly.

With mostly wishful thinking, Merlin mentally shut down all the soldiers near his friend, causing them to fall dead.

This caught Morgana's attention right away. Merlin was about to shut her down too, but something stopped him. Arthur should be the one to kill his sister, not him. Instead he quickly knocked her out and turned his focus back to Arthur.

Too late.

He had fallen, holding his side with the hand that didn't wield a bloody knife. Right by Arthur was Hopper M, an inch from death.

_Oh god. Not again. _

Hopper M was hallucinating again.

He had learned to ignore it, but at this very moment the apparition was something he had never seen before.

It was himself.

The vision half smiled. "Why do we always end up here?"

The Hopper couldn't move. "Did- did I succeed?"

The apparition nodded. "You always succeed. Now come on, they're all waiting for us." He then holds out a ghostly hand.

M lies still; he knew he was dead. Yet somehow he grasps his hand without living.

Suddenly, a glorious light outshines the bloody battlefield.

The rest was silence.

"Arthur?! Arthur!" Merlin yells as he runs through the battlefield. It was mostly over; the core Knights that were alive at the beginning of the fight were still there, cleaning up the rest of Morgana's men.

The king was close to unconsciousness, having dropped his dagger altogether. He slowly turns his head as Merlin reaches him.

"Arthur, I need you to stay awake for me. Okay? Stay awake. No- stay awake you clotpole!"

Unfortunately, Arthur slipped into unconsciousness, his head hitting the groud with a hollow thud.

Percival, Leon, and Gwaine all come rushing towards the two. "We need to get him out of here. Gwaine, if you could help me please." Percival instructs. The duo proceed to hoist Arthur onto a stretcher and wheel him away.

"You coming, Merlin?" Leon asks, following the stretcher loosely.

"In a minute."

Left alone surrounded by bodies, the young warlock feels a great sense of sickening nostalgia. The dead ex-Knight draws his attention for some reason. Upon approaching the body, he realizes something that makes Arthur's predicament worse.

"Huh. No medicine this time." Merlin says to himself, noting the lack of gold in the young man's eye.

Just outside of Camlann, the group parts ways. Leon was sent back to the compound to inform everyone of what the battle has produced. Gwaine and Percival had to go on what they called a "vendetta errand". Nobody questioned them. Merlin was to take Arthur to the lake, but he didn't give his reasons to the Knights right away.

"You can't just take Arthur anywhere, he needs medical treatment!" Leon protests.

"Magic is a pretty good treatment, and honestly, I think there's something at the lake that can heal him." Merlin protests.

Leon huffs. "Fine. I won't get in your way. Just he careful, okay?"

They all exchange goodbyes and I their separate ways.

**Chapter 23**

"My lady, if you could just calm down for a moment-"

Morgana grabs one of her lieutenants by the throat. "Calm down? I just built a monument to the last person I care about because they couldn't recover his body! I am also lookin for my brother who APPARENTLY is not dead yet. You have failed me in almost EVERY WAY, CENRED. I HAVE NO REASON TO CALM DOWN."

With a quick flick of the wrist Cenred's head twisted with a definite snapping noise.

"If you all are on my page now, I WANT ARTHUR PENDRAGON DEAD!"

The lieutenants looked uneasily at each other.

"Fine," she waves away their failure. "I'll kill him myself."

Morgana leaves her compound and heads for Camlann. If she can retrace Arthur's steps she's sure to find him.

But in the forest on the way to Camlann, two Knights attack her.

Well, not really attack her. They try to but she throws them against rocks causing them to pass out.

Gwaine wakes up to excruciating pain. He's tied up to a tree, and Morgana is right next to him, a small serpent in hand.

"I'm sure you know what this can do, good Knight," her voice drips with poison. "The pain can be avoided if you tell me where Arthur Pendragon was going."

He struggles to break free but it's no use. "I'll die first, you bitch!"

She hardly looks offended. "That can be arranged."

Percival also wakes up tied to a tree, but there's no physical pain. What woke him up was an agonizing yell of someone else in pain. He recognized the voice instantly.

The rope holding him down was tight, but it was pretty difficult to suppress Percival. He broke free after a few minutes of struggling, and began to follow the noise to where his friend might he found.

Gwaine was already half dead when Percival reached him. Morgana was long gone, off to who-knows-where.

"I told her," the dying Knight manages to say. "She knows where Arthur is. I'm sorry," he quietly says. "I failed."

"No, you didn't." Percival replies, but Gwaine couldn't hear him.

"Hey, get up."

In his last moments, Gwaine sees himself in ghost-form offering a hand to help him up.

"Wha- who- why-" he can't form sentences.

"You didn't fail, man. It'll wok out, I promise. But you have to let go."

He nods, and, without moving a muscle, is helped up by himself.

And then, a bright light washes everything else away.

Shaken by his best friend's death, Percival calls Leon.

"What's happened?" He immediately asks through the phone, his voice sounding far away and tired.

"Gwaine's dead, Leon. Morgana's on her way to find Arthur. I- I don't know what to do." He's inches from breaking down in the middle of this forsaken forest.

Leon can tell his friend is distraught. "Just get back here, alright? We'll figure something out."

Percival shakes his head. "Not this time."

He drops the phone, and draws his dagger. Back in school, Percival's favorite thing to learn about was the way of the Samurai. What he remembered was that when their purpose in life was gone, or when their honor had left them, they would die in the most honorable way. At least it went something like that. What was it called? Ah, it didn't matter. He knew how it was done.

He kneels down, knife shaking in his hand. Percival had to stop the shaking. He did so by plunging the knife into his stomach and dragging it across his torso. The last thing was to jerk the knife upward so it might catch his heart and kill him quickly.

And it did just that.

Suddenly, a vision of himself with an outstretched hand appeared.

"You have done your duty well," the vision said. "And now it's time to join the others."

"Thank you." Percival knew he was dead, but somehow he grabbed his vision's hand.

And then a blinding light wiped out the darkness.

**Chapter 24**

Merlin and Arthur had to travel to the lake on foot; a car would be too easily seen by one of Morgana's men. The trek wouldn't have taken so long if Arthur weren't slowly dying. Merlin had tried healing him with magic, but it was no use. The dagger that had stabbed him was created with dark magic, unbreakable in every way. Their best chance was to get to the lake. Something in the back of Merlin's mind told him that last time there was a lake involved.

The duo were moving at a reasonable pace through the woods when suddenly the sounds of footsteps and shouting grew louder and closer to them. Thinking quickly, the young physician and the king ducked behind a thick group of trees. Merlin caused a gust of wind to cover their previous tracks. The people came closer, closer...

Then left, having discovered no trace of the pair.

"Why don't you use your magic more often?" Arthur asked. "Doesn't it make everything more convenient?"

He shrugged in return. "I use it a lot by myself, but I'm not used to using magic in front of other people."

"Why not?"

Merlin really didn't want to answer but he also wanted Arthur to stay alert and awake. "Not everyone is as accepting as you and the Knights are of magic, that's all. I've always hidden it."

Starting back on the path again, Arthur looks at his friend in a new light. "You know, Merlin, I never want you to change. I want you to always be... _You._"

Something in Merlin's gut twisted. His king had said that before to him. But he needed to keep Arthur talking. "Know what? I think you have a pretty great physician."

The king laughed in return. "I do. Perhaps I'll give you a day off when this is all over."

The pair laughed. They both knew Merlin wouldn't dream of taking a day off.

They could see the water's edge, they were so close. Arthur's condition was deteriorating rapidly, and Merlin was slowly losing hope of making it work this time.

"Arthur, look! We're so close, you'll be better in no time!" The warlock pointed out, keeping the general morale up.

He smiles, too weak to form a sentence.

"Oh, but I doubt you'll make it there." A chilling voice behind them interjects. Suddenly Morgana blasts her brother back against a nearby tree, not quite enough force to kill him.

"Emrys," she regards the man standing coldly. "you know this can't work. It didn't work last time. You were too late."

"Ah, so you do remember," he almost chuckles. "Then you recall what's about to happen."

"Oh, but Merlin, we were sent back for a reason."

Merlin rolls his eyes in frustration. "Yes. So Arthur can live out his reign over Camelot with Gwen. That last part, by the way, was destroyed by your little robot-friend." Sass was practically spilling from his words.

"Actually, my Hoppers were not robots. Quite the opposite actually. They were more alive than any of us, and now they'll never get to share their knowledge. But I digress. No, Emrys, we were sent back so I could rightfully rule Camelot."

By tha time Merlin had drawn Arthur's favorite handgun, the one Freya had tossed him from the lake. "It's over, Morgana. Just give up already."

She sees the gun and laughs a genuine, dark laugh. "You really think that can kill me?"

The gun goes off in his hand; Merlin hadn't even pulled the trigger manually to shoot the corrupted queen. "Yes. Goodbye, Morgana."

She lay still; that part of the story had come true again. Arthur looked a little dazed. "That was cool and all, you killing my sister, but I think I'm about to pass out, so could we-?"

Merlin helps his friend through the rest of the forest into the clearing just before the lake. Arthur stops walking and collapses.

"No, Arthur, come on, we have to-"

"Just," the king weakly raises a hand. "Just hold me. Please."

Merlin sat with his friend in his arms as Arthur's breathing slowed. "Merlin, there's something I want to say to you. All that you've done. Helping me build my empire-"

"You could have done it without me." The warlock holds back tears.

Arthur laughs weakly. "Maybe. But for all you've done for me, for Camelot...

Thank you."

And with those last words, the king of Camelot's drug empire breathed his last.

"Wait, _what?!_" Leon almost yells through the phone. He had sent some Knights to find Percival and what remained of Gwaine.

The voice on the other end cracked with static. "I said they're both dead, sir. Percival's got a self-inflicted stab wound, across his torso and up into the heart."

Leon shakes his head, not able to perceive what he is hearing. "Report back later. Call for a team to come recover them." He hangs up quickly.

All his friends were dead. There was still a sliver of hope that Arthur was alive, but he saw his leader after the battle; he was already half-dead then.

Regaining his composure, Leon carefully walks to Gwaine's room. In his sock drawer was concealed a large stash of cocaine. That poor man was hooked till the end. Leon grabs it all and returns to his room.

He had promised himself he'd never go near drugs again, but this was different. He knew exactly how much would kill him, how much could take away the weight of living permanently, how much...

The needle goes in. There's no turning back now. The Knight collapses to the floor as a hallucination of himself appears.

"We lasted a lot longer in life last time, mate," The hallucination chuckles, then offers his hand. "Let's go see our friends again."

Although Leon knew he was already dead, he somehow manages to grab the hallucination's hand, and a beautiful white light drowns everything else.

**Chapter 25**

"Merlin, let him go. There's nothing you can do now."

The physician was still holding his king tightly even though he had been dead for what felt like hours. Merlin looks up slightly to see the old man standing at the water's edge. Although Merlin thought the man would look out of place anywhere but the underground library, he actually blended well with the scenery.

"I'm sorry, young warlock. We couldn't make it work this time."

Merlin, still clutching Arthur tightly, turns his full attention to the ex-dragon. "I failed?" His voice was almost a whisper, yet it seemed to echo across the lake.

"You never fail," Merlin's godfather appeared next to the other man. "you haven't failed yet. Albion just wasn't ready for Arthur."

"What? What do you two mean?" The physician was almost as confused as he was upset.

The two older men shared a look. Then Merlin's godfather slowly responded. "Those that have departed... They haven't actually died. None of them have really died. Neither have we. We've only seemed dead to you all these years."

He steps towards his friends, Arthur slowly slipping from his grasp. "That makes no sense. Arthur died a king and came back a Druglord. I remember. I- I saw all these people die!" He raises his voice to a shout, "And now you tell me my pain was unnecessary. Why am I just now getting this? Everyone- all the Knights, even you two- you all died eventually!"

The dragon outstretched his hand. "Talking about it won't explain it well enough. Let me show you."

With great trepidation, Merlin grabs the old man's hand. Suddenly, a burst of beautiful, unyielding white light bathed the scene in blinding glory. Then everything went silent.

Nothing.

That's all there was.

Yet in the nothing there was... Something.

Merlin opened his eyes; he hadn't realized he'd shut them. The space was without color, or sound, or anything. He looked around to find he had fallen down.

And there were others. He recognized them all as people who had died for whatever cause. It was everyone. But they were all...

Dead? Sleeping? Merlin wasn't sure.

The dragon man had already stood up; they were the only two awake in the space.

"Do you understand now?" He asks with a slight grin.

"No, I really don't. Please extrapolate." He shakes his head, searching the sleeping people for Arthur.

"This is where they go when they die. We all sleep here until we live again. And you, young warlock, can never die. This is your first time here, but I doubt it'll be your last."

Merlin surveys everyone. Some were friends, some were enemies, some he wasn't sure what the relationship was. "But this isn't everyone." Memories flooded into his head. "Last time, the first time, there were others that impacted Arthur's life. Why aren't they here?"

"A subconscious question is presented to us when the time grows nearer: go back or die. Some had no choice, because they were needed to play their part in this story. Others, ones whose parts could be compensated for, they were given the choice. If you can remember, that has happened this time."

He nods in response. "Who's controlling this?"

The dragon man laughs slightly. "We do not know."

Merlin walks through the rows of neatly lined sleeping people. He couldn't decide if they were wearing clothes from the first time or from this time. Merlin could tell that the people had their causes of their demises from both times clearly shown. Arthur had been stabbed in the exact same place both times. The sight made Merlin want to vomit.

"So, now what?"

"Well, I suppose when you leave, and you'll have to leave, you'll go to wherever- whenever- we return. I can't say where or when that is, and I believe you'll lose your memories again."

"And so will everyone else. I won't know how to stop anything that's already happened, history will just repeat itself!"

The old man snapped his fingers and a door appeared in front of Merlin. "That's up to you, my friend. Right now everyone is fully remembering everything before they too lose it all. Hopefully one day we will get it right."

Merlin opens the door to see a soulless, black light. He turns back to thank his friend, but the old man had already fell into the same coma that had everyone else entranced.

He wipes away any trace of sadness from his face, takes one last breath of knowing, and steps into the darkness to greet Arthur again.


End file.
